Beopedia©

The Community Shield 2010

2010-08-09T16:38:00.000+08:00

The English Community Shield match between Chelsea and Manchester United signified the start of the European season. The top football leagues of Europe will resume their seasons soon and this match indeed serves the widely dubbed purpose of the match, and that's none other than the curtain raiser for the English football and effectively the European season, especially if one asks an Englishman. Actually, many people still dub this match as merely a pre-season friendly with a trophy and nothing more. However, if we look deeper into this one off match, it is technically the English Super Cup, in which the winner of the previous season's Barclays Premier League is pitted against the winner of the FA Cup, or the runners-up of the league if the Cup was also won by the league champions. This edition of the Community Shield was won by Manchester United in a rather impressive 3-1 victory over Chelsea. Both teams clearly wanted to win the competition as evident in the match itself.

Two points of note for Manchester United would be the fact that they should count themselves fortunate for still having Paul Scholes in their squad. Even though he's now at a rather advanced age of 36 in football terms, he showed why he still merits a place in the Man Utd first team with his laser guided passes in which the sheer accuracy and grace can only be matched by another legend Guti, the Real Madrid legend who is now plying his trade in Turkey's Besiktas. The England manager, Fabio Capello wh was in attendance might have wondered how his World Cup 2010 campaign might be markedly boosted by the presence of the ginger haired veteran midfielder. Man Utd will do well to have Scholes fit all season as barring a credible reinforcement and/or readjustments to their midfield, if Scholes is out, especially for a prolonged period of time, they might find it difficult to score goals as evident last night where 2 of their 3 goals came from the marvelous passing of Scholes. There could have been many more goals had their strikers especially Berbatov were not so profligate in front of the goal.

Another point of note in the Man Utd side would be none other than the new signing Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. Many are expected from him especially with his impressive World Cup performance for Mexico, and his signing might prove yet another great one for Sir Alex Ferguson. The Mexican striker injected plenty of pace into an otherwise slow and stoic strikeforce led by Berbatov. For him to score a goal on his official debut can only boost his already sky high confidence from the World Cup even more for the upcoming season.

As for Chelsea, unfortunately with only so little reinforcements especially to replenish their squad after the massive clearout of ageing players such as Michael Ballack, Deco, and Belletti and of course Joe Cole's departure to Liverpool, their squad looked “tired and old”, and Chelsea fans have to be alarmed as their team is now starting to show the symptoms of the AC Milan team prior to Carlo Ancelotti's departure around 2008 and 2009. Even though it would be too far to suggest that Chelsea won't last the distance this time in the league as well as other competitions, as evident in their fightback even after being 2-0 down in the match, it is still alarming nevertheless for Chelsea. Their only reinforcement to date, Yossi Benayoun who is nothing more than a direct swap with Joe Cole was not really impactful in the minutes he was on the pitch.

However, Chelsea are able to take solace in the fact that Daniel Sturridge, the promising striker signed from Man City a couple of years ago showed signs of maturity and he had a huge role in Chelsea's 1 goal in the match and he's as good as having a new signing for Chelsea.

As for the imminent arrival of Ramires, It remains to be seen how it would improve Chelsea's squad and it also remains to be seen on how Ramires would adapt to English Football.

From what could be seen from the Community Shield, the intensity of both teams to win the season's curtain raiser proved that we have just witnessed the two teams who will directly tussle for the title, with Chelsea trying their best to defend their crown while Man Utd trying their utmost best to overtake Liverpool's record of League titles won.

What Makes a Team Worst in Their League

2010-07-30T19:49:00.000+08:00

A glance at a completed league table of any football league in the world (although it might be applied to other sports as well) would reveal the presence of a team at the top of the table which is the champion of that league in that particular season. However, if we scroll down towards the wrong end of the table, the part of the table in which it is likely to be analyzed and observed as meticulously as the top of the table, would reveal the presence of a team languishing at the bottom of the league table. This team, usually relegated to a lower division alongside two or three teams above them, would be considered the worst team in that league. Sometimes fans like you and me start to wonder what exactly are the reasons for that team to be the one which is the worst team in the division and has to contend with the proverbial “Wooden Spoon Award” in the league.

Just like any other phenomena in this world, in which there is/are causes and precursors, there are reasons and triggers that make a team worst in their league. I would categorize those reasons into two categories and that would be financial reasons, which constitutes a very large chunk of why a team is the worst in their league as well as the club's personnel's abilities as well as others. Although it seems that the reasons that will be listed in the following paragraphs seem to be standing on its own, each of them is not mutually exclusive and they might apply concurrently in a football team.

The first and arguably one huge aspect which makes a team worst in their league is the financial aspects of the team, and the importance of this is amplified many-folds in the modern game whereby business is increasingly more and more intersected with football compared to politics unlike in the past whereby the latter dominates football much more than business. But now, it is so different, as the financial aspect of a team is almost the sole yardstick to measure how the team would perform in a league or any other competitions. Football, just like any other sports is supposed to be one of the rare avenues to at least momentarily escape from the harsh reality of life, at least for 90 minutes at a time, but just like how politics have been so close do dominate football, business have clung on the same manner to football. Football clubs have become more of a business tools for conglomerates out there and we have seen how many top football clubs nowadays are being led and operated by figures who have little or nothing to do with football at all. Sometimes clubs are being taken over to increase the profile of the club by pumping millions and even billions, and even unlimited budget such as what Manchester City are enjoying right now, and they might look to sell the club on when the sale value as well as the reputation of the club has skyrocketed.

The above is actually another debate for another occasion, but the point here is that not every team in a league enjoys such financial concessions such as what have been highlighted above. For every Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Internazionale, there are Messina, West Brom, Tenerife, and recently Portsmouth. In other words, there is some kind of financial disparity existing between the haves and the have-not in a football league, and the phenomenon of foreign conglomerate ownership of top teams as stated above have served to widen the financial gap. Players, who are the most crucial human resources of a football team, are being increasingly bought for astronomical amount of money, such as how Real Madrid broke the record for most expensive transfer twice in just a few days when they bought Kaka for 65m Euros and then Cristiano Ronaldo for 80m Euros. This, together with the massive bidding campaigns of players from the wealthiest of the wealthy clubs inadvertently and perhaps unavoidably inflate the prices of players in the transfer market. Clubs that do not enjoy the massive financial backings would suffer since they might not be able to afford the prices as well as the kind of wage demands of the players who are capable of carrying the small clubs up to the next level.

Even if the small clubs possess good players or young players with potential, and that they are able to become some sort of a “selling club” to the big spenders (eg. West Ham, Sporting Lisbon), it is unlikely that the huge amount of money earned would be able to carry them on to the next level as they have to frantically sign another player as a replacement or that season will be a jeopardy, and there will not be a sufficient time to unearth a replacement from within in such a short time. Some small clubs might not even have the luxury of spending the money earned from the transfer as they have to pad up their precarious financial state and thus they go from bad to worse. Basically, the team that is the poorest (ie. With the lowest bank balance), as well as the team that fails to churn out promising players to be sold off to the big clubs who are willing to pay good money for them will be the worst in the league.

The second reason would be mismanagement of the club. I mentioned about Portsmouth, and it is well known that the English club recently faced a series of devastating financial problems that almost resulted in the historical club being forced to cease its long existence. The financial problems that they got themselves into actually resulted in a mismanagement of the club's finances in which to keep things simple, they simply “spend beyond their means” with artificial budget sired from debts. Actually, mismanagement is commonly tied up to the finances of a club, although there will be more on other types of “mismanagement” later on, and debts is the primary component of mismanagement occurring in the footballing sphere. As I mentioned above, top teams and even mediocre teams especially in the English Premier League are constantly being taken over by foreign investors whether for business purposes for otherwise, and most of the time, they would implement a policy of “spend spend spend” to make their way to the top of the footballing universe. However, and this is funnily coincides with the fact that more and more of those foreign owners hail from the USA, and it is well known worldwide that Americans sometimes have a motto of “spend now, pay later” and these big spending football clubs adhere to that mentality as well. While they finance their way to the top by buying players, they are mortgaging, and I dare say gambling the future of these clubs away by spending now with debts, and just hope that the team does well to clinch titles or at least the UEFA Champions League regularly to continue on financing the debts incurred to artificially finance the club in what I would dub an overdrive financial mode.

Things would go relatively well as long as they are able to maintain the good on-pitch form such as how Manchester United are able to continue on to win titles and to finance the club comfortably despite a well known massive debt surrounding the club. However, not all clubs are as lucky as them. In 2002, Leeds United were massively and artificially financed with debts, and when they failed to preserve their life support by missing out on regular Champions League qualification, they became embroiled in spiraling debt culminating in their relegation in 2004, and they have not been since in the Premier League up to the time of writing, almost a decade later! Same goes for Portsmouth in which they looked like a big club around 2007 and 2008, culminating in their FA Cup victory and their first ever season in Europe in the season afterward, but they were not able to build on that success to sustain themselves, debt spiraled, and the rest is history, and even if they managed to avoid extinction, they are still in turmoil right now, and they might even get relegated again in the lower division. Another club embroiled in troubles due to mismanagement would be Newcastle United under the Mike Ashley regime. He tried to implement some kind of “continental system” in which a Director of Football is to collaborate with the manager of the club and the result was disastrous with disastrous signings of inept players and they were relegated from the EPL. Leeds, Portsmouth, and Newcastle ended up becoming the worst team in their league (EPL) on the days of their respective relegation due to mismanagement of the club.

If we want to take the definition of “worst in their league” a bit further and be more specific, I would mention teams like Real Madrid and Manchester City who have not been really at the top compared to their fellow wealthy and prestigious clubs around. Many of the wealthy owners of the top football clubs around the world have been accused by many sections of the footballing universe as business people who do not really understand how to manage football clubs, and indeed there have been mismanagement going on, and although in the league table per se they are relatively well off, but considering how wealthy and big they are, as well as compared to the other clubs of a similar stature, they can be considered one of the worst. For Real Madrid, it was proven in the first Galactico Era on how quite a few mismanagement caused them many years of trophy drought despite spending obscene amount of money for superstars, but they only bought attackers such as Zidane,Beckham, and Figo, while forgetting and perhaps underestimating the importance of defense, as they sacked Fernando Hierro and then unceremoniously sold Claude Makelele to Chelsea, and not mentioning the plethora of managers they hired and sack during those years. Even until now, despite improvements such as purchasing world class defenders, they still finished last season empty handed and despite the promising appointment of Jose Mourinho as a manager, many are still skeptical, and despite the huge reputation augmented by wealth, they are still worst compared to their counterparts such as Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, and of course Barcelona.

As for Manchester City, we know that they also failed to qualify for the Champions League last season despite their massive investments on players in which they bought mostly strikers and thus they failed to enhance their reputation to attract even bigger names in football such as how their embarrassing bid for Kaka turned out to be indicated how badly they need an enhancement of reputation to rival Manchester United as the premier club in Manchester and the whole world. Thus, considering their unlimited budget, they are still the worst team out of the wealthiest clubs in Europe. It remains to be seen whether they would improve for the upcoming new season.

For mismanagement at the highest level, no one could forget Juventus of course who were caught trying to cheat by bribing referees to decide games in their favor in which to cut the story short, is known as the Calciopoli in 2006. This resulted in a few of their Serie A titles unceremoniously stripped of them, and their key players leaving the team, as well as relegated to Serie B for the 2006-07 season. Even though they were relegated to Serie B while they finished as Serie A champions in 2006, they were still the worst team in the league for that season.

Another mismanagement would be how the manager fails to put the right men at the right places. A recent example was how Cameroon, the African country expected to progress the furthest in World Cup 2010 among the other African participants. But a series of gaffe decisions such as stripping the captaincy from the long time captain Rigobert Song and then to play the new captain Samuel Eto'o on the right wing position, totally isolated from his natural position among other wrong decisions culminated in the team becoming the first African nation to be knocked out from the competition, and in the final official standing, they were the second worst team in the competition, just above North Korea.

The other reason for a team being the worst in their league would be due to the promotion-relegation system existing in most leagues in the world. There are a lot of examples on how promoted clubs from the lower division are actually too strong for that division, but they are simply too weak for the new division, and thus over the years, they continue on to go up and down the divisions, and they are nicknamed “Yo-yo clubs”. A very classic example especially in this decade in English football of such a club would be West Bromwich Albion (WBA) in which they have always been changing divisions almost annually. Thus, these clubs, as well as other clubs who clinched promotion especially through the playoff system are deemed to be too weak for the division and are likely to be the worst team in the new and upper division and thus they will immediately go back down the division and whether they comeback again like the yo-yo clubs are not relevant. The point is, a newly promoted team might be too weak for the upper division and thus they become the worst team in that division.

The last reason and perhaps the most logical of all would simply be the fact that football leagues and competitions, as well as other sports are simply competing to be the best, competing to win the competition. It is the unchangeable nature of any competitions that when there's a winner, there will always be the losers, and this applies to the leagues and competitions. All these while, I have been talking about disparities between teams, mismanagement, being too weak etc. but even in a totally competitive league, such as if a Super League consisting of the strongest teams in the whole world is to be created, there will be a team finishing at the very bottom of the league table and thus becoming the worst team in that league at the end of the season. Thus, yet another reason and it might be the reason which hit the nail in the head would be that it is simply an inevitable fact and nature of a league or competition that cannot be escaped. No matter how competitive or closely fought a league is, there will always be the worst out off the competing bunch, full stop.

Thus, despite the plethora of reasons that could be stated for a team to be worst in their league such as financial strength and well being, the competency of those managing the team, how the team operates, and so on, and after all those lengthy explanations about each one of them, at the end of the day, even if all those problems do not exist at all, it is safe to conclude that no matter what, in any league/competition, there will be a team that is the worst out of the bunch, and thus any team in any league would only fight to become the winners, while avoiding the losers' spots at all costs, but there will be competing teams who will fill those positions, including one team that has to brave the tag of “the worst team in the league”.

Why Soccer is Good for Kids

2010-07-27T19:59:00.000+08:00

Soccer is undoubtedly the biggest and most famous sport in the whole world. Its popularity exceeds all other sports with billions watching and/or playing the game worldwide. Its governing body, FIFA has the most number of member nations, and the World Cup, its flagship competition is universally considered as the biggest sporting event on the planet, eclipsing even the Olympic Games. To cut a very long story short, it is a very simple but yet very famous sport and every country, even the USA which is so resistant towards the sport have started to openly embrace the sport as one of their own. This sport is also being played by a huge number of people around the globe, and that includes kids/children all over the world, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, and social status. In the actual fact, the activity of playing soccer among kids, including random kickabouts whether on a proper soccer field, a makeshift one, a Futsal arena, or even on the streets like how many superstars such as Carlos Tevez and Thierry Henry started out when they were kids themselves are considered so normal, so widespread, that kids, and even their parents, are likely to not realize the plethora of benefits that they stand to gain, ranging from their physical well being, emotional well being, to the possibility to reach a dizzying height in life just from casually playing soccer with other kids on a good day.

Many people call soccer as a male dominated sport, and the more extreme ones would even declare that this sport should be out of bounds to the more feminine gender. However, since we live in the increasing era of emancipation between the genders, and also the increasing popularity and standard of the womens' soccer worldwide, and as the title suggests, since this is only talking about kids in general, the benefits highlighted in the following paragraphs will be applicable for boys as well as for girls.

The first benefit for the kids from playing soccer is obviously the fact that the game helps each kid to build a sense of team-work, and to constantly expose them in a team based environment. We know that soccer is one of the most team oriented sports in the world. Many people might argue that other sports such as baseball and basketball are also team oriented sports, but if we are able to quantify/measure the level of “team elements” then soccer will definitely be ranked up there relative to other sports. To cite a real life example, just look the excitement within and surrounding the NBA team Miami Heat when they managed to sign James le Bron, one of the hottest names in basketball in recent times. Just because of the acquisition of this one player, Miami Heat has been touted as the next NBA champions for the next season. This is reminiscence to a few years ago when the same team signed Shaq O'Neal from LA Lakers. Just because of him, they did win the following season's NBA championship. While the same certainly cannot be said for soccer. When a team signs one player, that one player will not be able to carry the team forward all on his own. He has to adapt to his new surroundings, his new club's tactical set-up, as well as his new team mates' style of play. The transition of the one newly transferred player will not be as smooth as the ones observable in NBA such as illustrated above. Even when a player has been successfully integrated into a team and/or a whole newly assembled squad has successfully earned a decent amount of team chemistry, one player could not do it all. Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, Leo Messi, Maradona, you name it. No player on earth will not be able to do everything on his own for the team.

The lengthy explanation above only serves to highlight how soccer is a very team oriented sport. Thus, when kids play soccer, they would learn how to work in a team. In a soccer team, each and every player has his own duties, and it is imperative that every one of them adheres to their own set rules all the time. There's no “I” in a soccer team, everyone has to work together to make the whole team functional. When there's even only one player in the team who is out of sync with his/her team mates on the pitch, the team's structure and general well-being will be in jeopardy, and the team will not function as it should be. This will definitely drill into the kids' minds that it is crucial that they think about others and not only themselves. In my opinion, this is especially important for only children in the world. Only children have always been labeled as kids who are not able to integrate well into the society when they reach adulthood, and they are also perceived to be destined as individualistic and egoistic individuals with no sense of team work at all as they supposedly have been getting whatever they want from their over-parenting parents and that they don't need to share their belongings with anybody since they do not have anybody to share anything with in the first place. Even though these harsh stereotypes and labellings have been dismissed by other groups of scholars, there are some truths in those stereotypes and soccer can help compensate the lack of sharing opportunities at home due to the absence of siblings, as these kids would learn how to work and operate in a team through the soccer matches that they participate in, and they would also learn that they cannot always get anything they want anytime, for example, they need to fight and jostle for the ball, try their best to beat the defenders or stop the strikers, and so on.

As they learn more about the game, and as these kids start caring more about winning trophies and competitions, they will learn some selfless traits from soccer. For example, when kid A has the ball around the right flank and he is surrounded by four defenders, then kid B, his team mate is waiting in the penalty area and he is minimally marked at best. Kid A has two choices, firstly, to be an egoistical hero and try to beat those defenders and to score the goal himself which he is likely to fail or secondly, to just send a pass to kid B for kid B to score a goal and win the match for his team. This is especially important in the working life as increasingly people need to work in a team, and that sometimes or even more often than how people perceive it to be, the harsh life often expects people to sacrifice their personal gains for the best of the team. Soccer prepares these kids to be those team players in an amazingly perfect, amazing, and of course fun manner.

This is also tied to the second benefit for those kids from playing soccer. It is no longer a secret that modern life is increasingly identical in meaning to “sedentary lifestyle” and that obesity and of course the problems associated with it such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke just to name three have officially been considered as epidemics, especially in the developed countries in which most of the time spent by people, and for kids as well, are simply between the keyboard and the chair. The all important physical exercise is increasingly considered as an activity not worth doing and that it is just a waste of time. The bare minimum exercise of an average of 30 minutes a day are considered by many, especially kids to be useless and pointless chores and that the time supposedly used for the physical exercise is better off in their minds to be spent on supposedly more productive activities such as studying for the kids. However, they fail to realize the sheer importance and necessity of doing physical exercise regularly and not only they will regret it much later in their lives when they have to gripe with a Pandora Box full of problems such as the various illnesses associated with the modern sedentary lifestyle such as diabetes and heart diseases to the various social stigma in the society against obese people.

Therefore, I feel that soccer really helps in an immense way to alleviate the kids from all those problems. When the kids play soccer regularly, they only realize it as playing a fun game with their friends. Even if they realize what I have mentioned above about the team bonding exercise provided by soccer, they are unlikely to realize that by playing soccer, these kids are doing themselves a great favor in each game day by exercising vigorously for the duration of the game. Assuming that thy play for at least 1 hour, we could just look at the statistics of professional football matches to see how players cover distances for up to 13 or more kilometers in one game! That is a great workout which would undoubtedly and markedly improve the fitness level of those kids as well as keeping themselves healthy physically and mentally. It has been proven that kids who exercise regularly tend to do much better in school compared to their more sedentary counterparts. Again, by playing soccer, the kids get a multitude of benefits, they get the fun, and they get healthy.

Thirdly, I would also like to elaborate more on the benefits of playing soccer for the mental health of the kids who play the game. It has been mentioned above on how students who exercise regularly tend to do better in school, but there is also one more important mental aspect which could be improved by playing soccer. Soccer is a simple game, and when simplified to its simplest form, it is just a game in which players who are playing the game are all constantly having one aim in mind, and that is to score goals, and of course to score more goals than the opponents. This is actually the macro and the more attacking side of the aim in football, and there is another more micro and defensive side of the game in which every single player on the pitch each has a defensive duty to regain possession when the opponents are with the ball. The tandem of both main aims in soccer means that the kids who play the game are having those aims constantly embedded into their minds. In the long run, the will to fight to reach the goal, the determination to overturn things when things are tough, as well as the occasions when they have to sacrifice their personal gains for the good of the team means that the kids will be stimulated to become a competitive, determined, and even tough individuals.

When these kids grow up, and when they eventually enter the workforce regardless of their fields of choice, they will take away with them from soccer the tough mentality and the sheer determination when they are striving towards their goals in life. This shows one great benefit from playing soccer in childhood (and even constantly in their lives later on) which could potentially span across almost if not all aspects of life.

Last but not least, and in fact one significant benefit, is simply the dazzling and lucrative opportunity for the kids to become professional soccer players. It has been assumed up to the above paragraph that the kids who play soccer will eventually go to the workforce and an impression seemed to be given that these kids will leave soccer for good once they have entered the workforce. However, that is not the case. We know that the professional soccer globally is a multi-billion dollars history in which one million Euros is considered “very cheap” and/or “very little amount” and that a top player could earn that amount in just approximately two months or even less. Like how I mentioned at the beginning on how top players such as Thierry Henry, Carlos Tevez, and Robinho just to name three started out playing soccer in their respective hometowns when they were kids and now they are the who's who of soccer. In other words, another and perhaps the most significant benefit that kids stand to gain by embracing and playing soccer is a glittering career in the professional scene.

The kids might just be playing casually with friends and/or representing their schools. It does not seem like a big deal at all to a casual and average observer. But in the professional scene exists people known as scouts who are employed by national team federations and football clubs (local or overseas) whose duties are to identify and pick out promising talents to be groomed into the final product and to serve the scouting team with distinction.

The obvious benefit of playing soccer professionally is of course in terms of finance. Many soccer players spent their childhoods in poverty, but soccer more often than not offer a way out of their plight. It is true that not many will get the chance to be the Ronaldos and Kakas of this world and earn millions of Euros annually, but even if they do not, soccer could at least provide an avenue of financial help at the semi-pro and/or amateur level. This is observed quite extensively in the countries in which soccer is the top sport such as the UK and France in which many people from policemen to binmen ply their trades in soccer on a part time basis. They could yet find their way to the top rung of soccer ladder from this route, such as how Steve Savidan, the somewhat legendary French player (who was a binman himself) would gladly testify to all aspiring semi-pro soccer players.

Even for kids who are not living in a top footballing nations such as Malta, Bhutan, and San Marino in Europe. they could easily be selected in the national teams of these nations and compete with the world's best in the European Championship against the best names in soccer such as Italy, Spain, and France. Even if they garner 0 point and even 0 goal scored, the experience of playing against the top soccer players such as Wayne Rooney, Daniele de Rossi, and David Villa is too invaluable. Thus, I would say that the biggest benefit for kids who play soccer is of course to pursue a career in soccer, whether as a top professional and be the next who's who in the sport, as well as just supplementing one's income by playing the sport on a semi-pro basis. Even for girls, fret not, as the women's scene of soccer is increasingly developing really well and the women's game is improving and garnering positive reputations as well as time passes.

We have seen how soccer is incredibly good for kids and that the benefits stated above are not mutually exclusive and that they are able to earn all of those benefits stated above all at once. Again, it is incredible and I would even say a bit spooky on how a simple sport such as soccer is simply irresistably good for the kids and how a world of benefits these kids stand to gain just from playing this game. This is the magic of the game, and the sheer impacts of soccer for kids around the world is just one little aspect of what soccer is capable of. In short, we, especially if we are soccer fans, should start thinking about educating our kids about soccer since a very early age and to encourage them to play the sport considering the plethora of benefits that they could gain from playing soccer. For the kids, let's tie up your boots' laces, bring the ball to the nearest play, and let's kick the ball around!

Time to Inreoduce Technology to Football?

2010-07-16T23:20:00.000+08:00

The debate about the implementation of the various technologies in football such as the Hawkeye system used in tennis to determine whether the tennis ball falls into or outside of the court has been raging for quite some-time. It has died down in recent times due to the persistent unwillingness of FIFA, the world's football governing body to implement such technologies in football. Even when FIFA attempts to implement this, it has always encountered stumbling blocks especially in their voting system with the International FA Boards (IFAB) which consists of the FA (Football Association) of the various “countries” in the United Kingdom. The FA of Wales and Northern Ireland, that have veto power in the voting system always utilize their veto as they are afraid that their semi-pro leagues will be neglected as top leagues would get the top priority and have the best financial position to implement the technologies. However, this debate was re-ignited to an almost bordering to the ridiculous proportions after the last 16 round of World Cup 2010.

First, we have Argentina's 3-1 victory over Mexico, in which one of Argentina's goals from Tevez was totally offside but the linesmen and the referee gave the goal to Argentina. This incident was just a very small one compared to the second one which I am about to say, the one which arguably set the tone of the re-ignition of the wild and intense technology debate. That's none other than 1966 Wembley moment re-enacted in such a twisted manner. Frank Lampard shot towards goal from distance, hit the bar, bounced over the goal line, and out again. The referee did not consider that a goal and waved play on as the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer caught the ball. England is arguably the most media featured team in the world. Just open any football websites and/or newspapers, especially English language ones, and there's not even a day without England somewhere in the papers. Even if there's no mention of them on the Sports pages, they would hit other pages, even front pages (Ashley and Cheryl Cole split and Terry vs Bridge anyone?). Thus, when England is the team at the end of such a refereeing error which definitely calls for the introduction of technology, we could expect an intense debate for the introduction of technology and that's what we have been getting. In any case, this implementation of technology should have continued on to be debated instead of waiting for such a high profile and most media featured team to be adversely affected by it. Along with modernity, as well as the continuing incidences of high profile errors at the very top level and not forgetting how other sports such as tennis as mentioned above have implemented it long ago, it is pertinent that technology should be incorporated into the beautiful game for the better f the sport as well as for everyone associated with it.

Firstly, the obvious reason why technology should be implemented in football is because of the aforementioned high profile incidents that are game-changing. I also remembered somewhere in 2005 or 2006 if I am not wrong, there was a similar incident whereby the then Tottenham player Pedro Mendes launched a blistering shot from distance and the then Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll parried it, but replays showed that the ball had passed the goal line before Carroll clawed it out of the net into safety. There are many more incidents like this, and the teams which are adversely affected by this such as Tottenham and England, especially England will argue to the end of the world that had their goal was allowed they would have clawed the scoreline back to 2-2 at that time with Germany after being 2 goals down, and they argue that they could have gone on to win the match. For one, I have to side with the English this time as prior to that incident, England was totally dominating the game, and had that gone in, I believe that England would have gone on to win the game, provided that they continue their dominance during that 15 minute period or so until the end of the game. This shows that this kind of unnecessary and frankly preventable errors definitely twist around the results of matches. Teams that should have won, did not, and on the other hand, teams that should not have won, won the match. Thus, it is absolutely necessary for FIFA to consider implementing technology in football so that teams that deserve to win a game could win a game. This is just about justice being heralded in the professional football games at the highest levels. Not forgetting the fact that football at that level should not contain such embarrassing errors.

The second reason is simply due to the flow of time. We have heard from topics outside of football on how certain beliefs are seen to refuse to embrace the modernity (or even post-modernity) which is here whether we like it or not, and that the reasons by the adherents of those certain beliefs are all pointing towards one word “traditionalism and purism”. Alright, basically that's exactly the very same set of reasons given by Sepp Blatter, the incumbent FIFA President against the implementation of technology in football. However, as mentioned above, football is inevitably will have to take on the modern era head-on, especially considering how other sports have taken those steps to adapt and evolve along with an era increasingly laden with various technological advancements. With the increasingly often game changing errors as mentioned just now, it adds more impetus for those at the top rungs of the footballing universe to just embrace the available various technologies and improve the game such that it would minimize and even eradicate ridiculous mistakes in the game at least at the professional level.

Another reason justifying the technology's introduction to football is of course to discourage yet another increasing sad trend in football, and that's the dark arts of the game such as diving (nowadays called simulating for softer effects), blatant handballs, and also influencing a referee by acting (such as when Maradona told his teammates “Hug me, or the ref won't allow it” right after the Hand of God goal). This will move us on away from tennis, and for the incorporation of the video replays into the games. We know that if we watch the football games on television, we are always served up plenty of video replays repeatedly after each goal and/or controversial decisions. Even in the stadium itself, there's a big screen basically screening the match to the people who are somewhere in row Z (read: at the very back end and high up in the stands). However, the referee must not make a decision out of those replays and even based on what he and/or his linesmen are seeing on the big screen in the stadum, and that the referee's decision is final, and not even if he realizes his mistake later on, he won't be able to make any changes to his decision no matter what. One example of this was in the 2006 World Cup final during the famous “Zidane headbutt” incident. When the referee was busy officiating with his back facing Marco Materazzi and Zinedine Zidane, Zidane headbutted Materazzi as it is said (although even until today no one knows the exact real event) that the Italian had blurted some words about Zidane's mother and sister which did not sit well with the Frenchman. Although the incident happened with the ref's back facing them, he was able to see the incident on the aforementioned big screen in the stadium and he duly dished out a red card for Zidane. Although the referee was not supposed to use video evidence and have to see it with his own eyes, he had dished the red card, and also considering the referee's decision is final, go figure... In any case, technology did help the referee to make an informed decision.

What was proposed is simply the kind of video replay utilization used in rugby, in which each team has several chances (usually two) to contest any controversial decisions in the match. Then, the video replays will be used to judge a decision, for example whether a handball is deliberate, whether the ball has crossed the line, etc. Then the referee could overturn that decision based on the video replays. Since it has been proven in the aforementioned 2006 World Cup Final that technology has the potential to help referees to make more informed and correct decisions, why not implement it. It is true that change will undoubtedly trigger resistance to change, but that's the way it is.

Another benefit that FIFA could gain from the above implementation is just like what NFL is benefiting. During the replay assessment period when managers call for the video replay to contest a decision, there will be a short break on the game, and in NFL, usually this is used as a room for advertisements. This will undoubtedly generate even more cash for FIFA, as since it is a non-profit organization, thus more profits could be generated and more funds could be directed to FIFA projects to make football worldwide better such as its GOAL project. This will certainly go a long way in making football a better sport around the globe.

However, despite the obvious benefits that the footballing universe stand to gain from the implementation of technology in football as explained above, we have to remember that despite any arguments around the world that technology will make football a game which is what they call “too perfect” and becomes boring and one-dimensional and that we will miss all those dramas and controversies, they are in for a surprise if technology is really implemented. We know that technology itself is not perfect, and at some point there might be errors with the technology itself. Who is to say that no matter how well tested and tried technology is totally foolproof? I believe even if there's a total revamp in football such that even the referees themselves are replaced by totally cold but advanced robots, there are bounds to be errors from them sooner or later, and it won't be long before a new debate surfaces about the re-introduction of more human elements in the game.

However, I still feel that a degree of technological implementations such as the goal line technology as well as the video replays are still necessary considering how every game at the top level is such a high-stakes game right now. In short, patience is not a virtue in modern football, and that winning is virtually everything. Managers are sacked as soon as they are hired just because of a few blips of performance and not only careers are in jeopardy with defeats, but even lives are in danger. We have seen how Andres Escobar was shot after 1994 World Cup due to his own goal. Thus, it is pertinent that we remember that those dangers exist for the players, managers, and even the referees (there have been countless cases of death threats against the referees, and few notable cases such as that of Andres Frisk that they have to retire to avoid all the flak) for any wrong decisions and/or defeats. Thus, it it still necessary and would be great for the sport if FIFA could come with a grand plan to minimize those mistakes and finally augment football with the kind of technologies that have been serving other sports well.

On Thierry Henry's New York Sojourn

2010-07-15T20:55:00.001+08:00

Thierry Henry has finally made the switch to USA's New York Red Bulls official after so many rumors being mooted even from the previous year. Thierry Henry is not just any player, he's a football player who has lit up football so much for the last decade and a half in Europe. From his breakthrough season with Monaco under Arsene Wenger, from the way he performed so well to impress the then France coach Aime Jacquet to include him into the national set-up, and went on to win the World Cup in 1998, then to his big transfer overseas to Juventus which did not end really well, and to when his Monaco manager Arsene Wenger rescued him to Arsenal, converted him into a pacy striker, and the rest is history as he contributed so much to Arsenal he deserves the title “Mr. Arsenal” and his move to Barcelona where he helped the Catalan club win the famous Treble. Towards the end of his glittering and eventful career, it has somewhat taken a dive in the past few years, especially in the season just past. He lost his first team place in Barcelona, and in the national set up, he provoked the ire of the entire Republic of Ireland for “that” handball incident in the World Cup qualifiers playoffs, and also the messy and sad (except if you are an Irish) World Cup campaign. Seems that everything that could go wrong, go wrong for the Frenchman. Thus, now he has moved away from Europe, where all those eclectic mixture of greatness and craziness are jumbled up into one for a new journey in the Major League Soccer (MLS) in the USA with New York Red Bulls.

This transfer undoubtedly created such a hype that many pundits around the world have started to compare and even gauge whether this transfer will be even more hyped and impactful than David Beckham's transfer to LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007. Many people are also divided on Henry's motives for the transfer, some cited monetary purposes, some cited escapism from all those things in Europe, and some other even would cite re-launching his recently flailing career on greener pastures. All these will be delved carefully by yours truly in a moment.

Firstly, many people have started to come into a conclusion that Henry agreed for the move to NY Red Bulls simply for the money, or for a player on he wrong end of his career, to go on to “semi retirement” in the USA. There have been many top players in the past that have done this kind of moves from the top European Leagues where they have played during their hey-days to a considerably weaker league in another continent. Examples are ranging from Franz Beckenbauer and Pele's moves to the now defunct New York Cosmos in 1970s, Mario Kempes and Roger Milla playing in Indonesia, and recently Fernandi Hierro and Gabriel Batistuta in Qatar, and even more recently Fabio Cannavaro moving to the UAE. When one moves to these leagues, and MLS is certainly one of them, these players are specially treated, and for Thierry Henry's case in MLS, he's one of the few designated “marquee players” in his club as MLS allows some players in the club, especially overseas stars to be those designated players and thus the league's salary cap does not apply to them. This translates to sky high wages, which is also seen as necessary to attract these players to these leagues. Thus, many argued that this is the reason why Henry was compelled for a move to the MLS. Probably that's the case, as had he moved to smaller clubs in Europe, such as his first club Monaco, he might even be required to take pay-cuts to play for them as even if they are willing to give the player a high wage, but they might not be able to really afford it. But, in these leagues such as in West Asia and the USA, money is not really an issue and they are prepared to pay huge sums of money to attract these players into their shores.

By now, many people would think that footballers only think about money. But, we have to see things in perspective. Even if they “play” football for a living, it's still for a living, and “playing football”, the thing which they constantly do, is actually working. They are working to earn money, and the huge sum of money that they are receiving is actually because of the rarity of top professional footballers. Basic economic law, when supply is low, price is high. Thus, we shouldn't blame any players including Henry if they consider the monetary aspects as well when considering a move. However, even if Henry did consider that aspect for his move to New York, we have to see that it might just be one small reasons out of a plethora of reasons such as the ones I am bout to highlight.

The second possible motive for this move is also perhaps to really escape all the unwanted media attention that he has been getting in Europe, starting from his decline in form for Barcelona and France, as well as the handball and World Cup fracas. I know that his move generated such a huge hype that almost literally sent a huge shock-wave to shake the the whole world (which we will touch upon again later on). However, we have to realize one more thing, that MLS is not really under the microscope, unlike the top leagues such as the La Liga, English Premier League (mooted transfer to Newcastle United or Manchester City), and even if he had decided to come back to France to Ligue 1. He will still be under immense pressure from media and his every move will be under a watchful gigantic microscope, the last thing he wants, especially at this stage of his career.

For the MLS, not only it is really difficult to watch a live match of the league outside of the USA, even within the USA itself, Americans are too busy following other more “American sports” such as Rugby (NFL), basketball (NBA), and baseball (MLB). It means that somehow once the hype of his transfer ha settled down, he would be able to settle down nicely as well in his new life in New York. Even Beckham, throughout his seasons with LA Galaxy did not really receive a lot of media attention in Europe (thus the world) and as mentioned, even in the USA it will be massively shielded by the shadows from those aforementioned American sports. Thus, he would not be getting massive media attention week-in week-out, and this is necessary to implement the saying “time will heal everything” as over time, and with little attention, his wrongdoings (read: Irish debacle) will be quietly forgotten, although I won't bet against his handball replay being featured just before every World Cup editions from now on. But in any case, he will be left to do his own stuff with New York Red Bulls in relative peace.

The third reason will be about the pure sporting reason of Henry's transfer to the New York Red Bulls. As I mentioned, at this stage of his career, he is unlikely to get many games had he stayed on in the top leagues of Europe. Thus it is rational in the sporting term that he moves to a “weaker” league in another continent. In New York Red Bulls, he is already tipped to create a prolific partnership with fellow former EPL star Juan Pablo Angel (who is himself becoming a great striker in MLS unlike his rather mediocre self in Aston Villa shirt) and I believe Henry will do well as he is more than likely to get a regular run of games throughout the season as well as scoring plenty of goals for fun. This in turn will bring Henry hope with one eye towards the sacred blue shirt with the cockerel logo. Some top pundits have mentioned that Henry will forget about the national team, unlike Beckham who kept and still keeps his availability for a call-up to the national team. However, I believe that when Henry finally proves to be a very prolific striker with the New York Red Bulls, I believe he will surface again in the European media about his possible return to the national team set-up. I believe he will not spurn that chance to represent les-bleus again especially as he would be hungry to prove any doubters wrong and to “settle unfinished business” from the disastrous World Cup 2010 campaign, even if he is to feature for France as an impact substitute rather than being a pillar of the team.

I believe, Henry's reason for opting to go to the USA is indeed an eclectic mixture of the various reasons mentioned above jumbled into one. In any case, I believe Henry's words to the media that he's not going to New York for a lengthy and paid vacations, but he's a man on a mission, eager to get the records straight again, and also to prove to the whole world that there's still plenty of gas left in his tank despite many claiming that his career is as good as finished.

Also, we have to remember that this transfer is not a one way thing in which only Henry benefits from all of these. His club stands to gain a lot of things with Henry on board. Firstly, he will certainly augment their attacking force and MLS fans will now shudder to think and calculate the possible amount of goals that could be scored by the Angel-Henry partnership between the two of them and that how far New York Red Bulls could possibly go in the competition. Besides that, the club also stands to gain a lot of financial windfall as merchandising from shirt sales will definitely go up which will benefit the club greatly, and also not forgetting the fact that many people will now want to go to the games to see Thierry Henry in action, I have also seen some facebook statuses (from Americans) that with the arrival of Henry in the MLS, this is definitely the time to start going to the games. This translates into one thing, that attendances for MLS games, especially during New York Red Bulls' home matches will rise sharply, and this is definitely good for soccer as this game will definitely garner a lot of interests from the American public. Even though again many pundits claiming that Henry is not on a mission to change the soccer scape of the USA unlike what Beckham explicitly set out to do, he might just inadvertently do exactly that and make USA's soccer as well as the Beautiful Game as a whole to become a much better game. In any case, for one, I am eager to see how Thierry Henry will rejuvenate his career in the USA as well as rejuvenate the whole of US Soccer as well as the world.

Diego Forlan Deserves the Golden Ball

2010-07-14T22:58:00.000+08:00

World Cup 2010 has been done and dusted, as we have found a champion out of the 32 teams competing for the biggest prize of all in footballing universe, Spain, as well as Thomas Muller, the winner of the Golden Boot award and also for the young German to officially announce his arrival in world football. However, there's still one more award which drew quite a lot of criticisms and that's the Golden Ball award, awarded to the best player in the tournament. In World Cup 2010, the winner is Uruguay's Diego Forlan, and many pundits and fans, especially Internazionale fans out there feel that Forlan is not a deserving recipient of this award, as they feel that Wesley Sneijder, the runners-up for the award, or in other words the Silver Ball winner of this tournament who should have been the recipient of the Golden Ball. They argued that Sneijder has scored some great goals in the tournament that were crucial and game changing for the Dutch, especially his two goals that obliterated Brazil and sealed a 2-1 comeback win. However, we have to see that in relative terms, Forlan was much more impactful for his country than the Dutchman, as he virtually single-handedly carried his unheralded team all the way to the semi-finals and could have been in for much more. Thus, the reasons why Forlan is indeed a deserving recipient of the Golden Ball award will be outlined in the following paragraphs.

The first reason why Forlan deserves to be the winner of the Golden Ball was because of the fact that he single-handedly carried Uruguay forward with his goals (5 goals in total in the competition). Even during those games when he did not score, he helped the other players such as Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez to strut their stuff on the pitch to score the necessary goals for them to go through. When he scores the goals, of course I don't need to elaborate much on how Forlan carried the team forward as it's so plainly obvious, but even if he only has a meager 1 assist throughout the tournament (which we will touch upon again later).

Thus secondly, when he is not scoring in a game, Suarez scores. Just like when they were up against Mexico in the last Group A match which ensured they topped the Group and avoided Argentina in the last 16, and then in the last 16 itself when they were up against a solid and resolute South Korean side, in which Suarez scored 2 goals. So, what was Forlan doing in those occasions when he does not score at all? He simply acted as a decoy who drew defenders towards him. Even if it sounds really simple, being a decoy is not that easy. A decoy striker needs a huge reputation for being extremely dangerous when he has the ball on his feet or at least somewhere around him. Based on his records throughout his career (book blotting Manchester United records aside), his plethora of goals and individual accolades confirming his knack of scoring goals simply caused defenders to panic when he moves somewhere even if it's his off the ball movements, and thus whenever he goes to somewhere, the opposing defenders are likely to follow him around while subconsciously neglecting the other strikers such as Luis Suarez, arguably the main and sole beneficiary of Forlan's decoy play when he's not scoring goals for one reason or another such as being particularly marked very tightly by the opposing team.

Thirdly, one might still argue that only players from the winning team, the runners-up or at least from the team which clinched the third place as they ended the competition in glory. Since Uruguay did not fall into any of those criteria, it was deemed that Forlan should not have received the Golden Ball. Not only that it is such a naïve judgment, but that shows that anybody with that line of thought simply do not understand football at all and simply did not watch the competition at all, and basically just followed the competition solely through its Wikipedia entry. Yes, we have to admit that Sneijder, the player widely tipped to be the real best player in the tournament, did indeed play a huge and important role in his team's progress all the way to the final, but we have to look at things in perspective, and if the award is exclusively for the players from the winning teams, then I would suggest that FIFA rips the “My Game is Fair Play” flag draped by the local kids into the pitch before each match alongside the countries' flags that are playing in each game. Fortunately, FIFA's award committee was wise enough not to be so naïve, and simply carefully and meticulously assessed the candidates before deciding to settle with Forlan. Even if his team did not progress beyond the semi-finals, and they even lost to Germany in the third place playoff, but nevertheless in the semi-finals against Holland he scored a crucial equalizing goal in the 41st minute to get Uruguay back into the game after Holland had scored through van Bronckhorst's thunderbolt strike.

Even if it wasn't enough, Forlan continued to score again in the third place playoffs in the 51st minute to get Uruguay in front, but again it wasn't enough as they suffered yet another 3-2 defeat against Germany. However, those goals against Holland and Germany could not e taken lightly. In both occasions, especially in the Holland game, Forlan's goals in those games provided the impetus towards the rest of the Uruguay squad to keep on fighting all the way to the end. In the Holland game, they kept on fighting and when 3-1 down, Maxi Pereira managed to score at the last minute to make a grandstand finish, but even if they continued to threaten Holland for a dramatic equalizer, it simply wasn't enough, but it can be argued, especially by Uruguay fans that Forlan's goals in those games played a huge role in keeping their hopes alive. That's a sign of a great player inspiring a whole nation, even during an imminent defeat.

Fourthly, as mentioned earlier in the article, Forlan was also within a touching distance in becoming the tournament's top scorer. He has 5 goals in the end, and was tied with three other players (David Villa, Thomas Muller, and Wesley Sneijder). In the end, the young Thomas Muller won the Golden Boot award due to FIFA's tie-breaking criteria of counting the assist tally of the players in the event there's a tie. Muller has 3, more than Villa Sneijder, and Forlan all have only one assist in the entire tournament and those three are further separated by the minutes spent on the pitch. I somewhat feel that all three players should have won it jointly, instead of sorting out for just one sole winner based on assists and minutes on the pitch while it should have been a simple award in which the winner(s) would be decided by the amount of goals that they have scored. But since I am just an ordinary fan and that I am nowhere near the FIFA executive positions, I digress. But this is shared by many pundits who also feel that the award should have been jointly won. But nevertheless, Forlan was just within an inch from getting yet another award in the Golden Boot award, and this simply showed that Forlan was up there with the top strikers in the tournament alongside the de facto top names such as David Villa and Wesley Sneijder (Muller being a young breakthrough star of the tournament).

Fifthly, and arguably the most important is the fact that Forlan was one of the most fair play players in the tournament. Alright, I can understand that nowadays when the word “Uruguay” is mentioned, a plethora of negative connotations come to mind, especially for the English (Referee who did not see Lampard's “Goal”) and for the Ghanaians, obviously for the blatant cheating tactic that Luis Suarez employed to stop a goalbound header with his hands, as well as his arrogant reactions in the press afterward, in which he showed no remorse and gone on to even claim that Hand of God belongs to him now. However, this is an individual award, and we should not claim that every single Uruguayan in the squad is bad. Forlan was a player who set an example, and I believe even though Diego Lugano was the one wearing the Captain's Armband, but the real leadership was actually in Forlan's hands. He really led the team, spurred the team on with distinction, as well as leading by example. For example, if he's tackled roughly, he simply shrugged it, got up immediately like a man, and went on with the game, and if he's tackled lightly, he simply stayed on his feet and continued on playing. This is so contrasting to certain players out there who are supposed to be a world class footballer, but roll themselves 8 times with the slightest contact and sometimes due to a non-existent contact. Thus, the fact that he's the embodiment of the words “Fair Play” totally merits the fact that he got the Golden Ball.

Lastly, it's of course the psychological boost that he gives to the whole squad. When he's on the pitch, the whole squad simply believe in themselves and they simply go on an overdrive mode to go on a step further as individual players. Even Fernando Muslera, much maligned in Lazio as he is always seems insecure between the posts for the Roman club, but in this competition, he looked really world class and sturdy, with quite a few world class saves for the record. It seems that Forlan has this aura that simply spurs the rest of the squad. I saw caricatures of each of the 32 teams participating in the World Cup, and for the Uruguayan team, it is a sun with Forlan's face and with two hands holding to two Jules Rimet trophies the country has won in 1930 and 1950. The caricature simply sent a clear message, at least for me, that Forlan is simply the shining light of the team, the guiding sun of Uruguay, and I dare say was the lifeline of the squad. Had he been absent for just one match, this Uruguay team will not perform like what they had been performing in the World Cup.

Thus, based on those factors highlighted above, from his goalscoring exploits for his country in the competition, for the fact that one man simply lit up the whole nation, just like how a top pundit wrote in a top website while he was in Montevideo witnessing Uruguay's run in the competition from the Capital City, and when Forlan scores, the whole city, and he believes the whole country went silent and were simply stunned by the player, their guiding light. Also, not forgetting the fact that he is a real man who realizes that football is a contact sport unlike some players who whine and cry around when oposing players get near them as if football is a Texas Hold'em game whereby someone closing in on you means that he wants to take a peek at your two cards in hand, and simply for being the team's lifeline and the guiding light to glory, although it was close but no cigar for them. In short, Forlan fully deserves the Golden Ball award and I think I have to mention this, but Forlan was a promising tennis player in his youth before he decided to switch to football when his sister was paralyzed from a car accident. Since that touching story, he has become what he is today, and besides contributing for his family, and for his sister, and for their foundation to help campaigning for the preventions of car accidents, he has contributed a hell lot for football, and he will always be remembered for a prolific football player who has lit up a game so much, and how football has to be thankful that he switched to football, or else he will be lighting up Wimbledon, Roland Garros, Rod Laver Arena, and you name it instead of the “Beautiful Game”

World Cup 2010 Final Report Cards (Part 2/2)

2010-07-13T20:46:00.002+08:00

In the previous part, it was about the assessment of whether Holland really executed what I had prescribed in another two part articles prior to the final match itself. In this part, of course it will now be about the newly crowned World Cup champions Spain. Amazingly, not that I am trying to exaggerate the way to stop each team that I formulated as mentioned, but the champions filled more tick-boxes than the Dutch in the match in terms of the number of ways really executed by those teams. Thus, the following will be the assessment on the champions Spain.

The first aspect I mentioned was about how Spain should exploit the fact that Holland is usually in their most vulnerable state when it is the last 5 minutes or so of the game. It has been proven in World Cup 2010 most notably against Slovakia and Uruguay in which they conceded at the very last minute, which put Holland in a dangerous position for the Uruguay game but they were fortunate that the Uruguayans were not able to score one more goal to push the match to extra time. Well, Spain did score at the last minute, but they were leaving it so late, and almost too late as they scored only 3 minutes before the match went to penalties, and thus a lottery, and it might mean that the Dutch hacked and cracked and even kung-fued their way to the title, leaving football as the losers.

However, what I meant by scoring late is around the last 10 minutes of the normal time, as it would be much better to finish a knock-out match within 90 minutes instead of spilling it over to extra time where the variables would get complicated as extreme fatigue and even bouts of cramps set in. Also, the failure of introducing Torres early on or even starting him with Villa baffled me. Had Torres started alongside Villa, I believe Spain would have scored much earlier in the normal time as even if he could not score a goal, there is another important function of him, and that's as a decoy to draw the attention of the Dutch defenders and start to gang up on him and even kick him around. But that's alright, that's a small sacrifice as long as David Villa is able to be set free and do his job properly, instead of being so isolated up front and always being surrounded by at least 4-5 Dutch players everytime he gets the ball or even when a ball is on his way to him. Thus, I would consider that Spain had failed to score even later in the normal time as they did not even really try to attack the Dutch who themselves play defensively. Yes, people might say, “Spain has won! So what?” but it could be much much worse for Spain had Iniesta wasn't able to score and the match had gone to penalties.

Still revolving around a time period in the match, I also mentioned how Holland is always at their most lethal around the 60th to 70th minute of the match, and that Spain have to pay extra attention not to over commit men forward in this period of time as the Dutch are very dangerous during this period of time. In the match against Spain, they did threaten around this period. There were two instances whereby Robben almost scored, (Can't really recall but should be within or around this period of time) as he was left one on one with Casillas and in both occasion Casillas did very well to stop him, the first perhaps with a tint of luck as he stopped the shot with his trailing leg, while for the second, Casillas managed to sweep the ball from Robben's legs and he was fortunate the Dutchman did not decide to send himself tumbling on the ground clutching his legs as it would have been a straight penalty. Many pundits claimed that Casillas was extremely fortunate, especially for the first Robben chance, but whether it was down to luck or whatever it was, Spain nevertheless managed to thwart the danger of conceding from the most dangerous Dutch player on the field that night, Robben. In this department, Spain did well in closing down shop (as they had been doing throughout the match unfortunately) to prevent the Dutch from scoring during this period of time in which they usually score goals.

With that, the Spaniards also managed to keep dangerous players such as Robben as mentioned, Sneijder, and even Gio van Bronckhorst. Spain did not let the Dutch from launching dangerous long shots and/or probing long passes for most of the time, and Sneijder had a surprisingly quiet game unlike in the previous games in which he has had a lot of say in Holland's matches and of course it simply means the Dutch's unstoppable progress all the way to the Final. Spain, again maybe due to its defensive oriented formation, managed to close down those players quite superbly, especially at the back whereby the two huge pillars of Barcelona duo Puyol and Pique managed to thwart the Dutch's attempts to attack, although sometimes Puyol was caught losing a sprinting race with Robben especially, but they did well in not providing any space and opportunity to launch meaningful long shots. As for Robben, even if he managed to win those sprinting races against Puyol and Capdevila before cutting in to the middle and launch his long shot, the shot was not really flying very well and Casillas only needed to do a routine catch to save it, that's because of the closing down from the Spanish defenders earlier even if they did not manage to dispossess Robben before he launches the shot.

The last aspect I mentioned was about how Spain must really exploit a weakness, which was actually the Dutch's game-plan for this game, and that's the tendency of the Dutch players, especially players such as Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong to play pro-wrestling instead of a prper game of football on the pitch. I mentioned that the Spaniards should, if they don't resort to stimulation, to simply channel the ball and play towards van Bommel and de Jong as they are the pillars of Holland, and if they get irritated so much with the Spanish midfielders buzzing around them and past them, they would resort to roughing them up in such a way that they would get cards, especially red cards and cause a Dutch collapse. Spain really succeeded in doing so, well, they did some simulations, but it was mostly due to some kind of retaliation towards the Dutch's extremely rough style as well as their own knack of simulating, especially players such as Robben. In any case, besides the cards that they collected themselves, they managed to make the Dutch collect a lot of cards, 8 in total and 2 of them resulted in a sending off as Holland's Johnny Heitinga was sent off for a second yellow in extra time. Actually, even within the normal time, the Dutch should have been a man down as Nigel de Jong was seen executing the “Big Boot” move straight from Pro-Wrestling into Xabi Alonso's chest. Had Xabi was a female, he should have been in heaven right now. The referee decided to brandish only a yellow card to the somewhat fortunate Manchester City hard-man. But nevertheless, when the opposition players are collecting cards there's one advantage gained by Spain. When a player is on yellow, they somehow reduce their intensity and also the frequency of them executing tackles, especially dangerous and 50-50 tackles such as the sliding tackle, and thus it means that it's unlikely that the Dutch would rough them up and also defend as tightly as when they had yet to get the yellow cards. Thus, Spain managed to make the Dutch to collect cards, even if they did not directly cause it. The Dutch themselves seemed to have been so intimidated by the Spain's squad on paper that they seemed to resort to stop them from playing their own brand of football properly.

As a result, Spain managed to win the World Cup for the very first time. But despite what the pundits around the world are saying about how Spain saved all of us from having an undeserving World champion, or in pro-wrestling terms, to have a “heel” winning the World Heavyweight Championship for instance instead of a fan favorite, “heels” deserve to win too, and had Robben scored just one of his two chances, Holland could have been the winners, much to those pundits' agony, and just like how a “heel” would be booed every time he appears with his shiny Championship Belt. But now, congratulations to Spain for winning their first ever World Cup title, and now they are able to legitimately stake their claims as one of the best national teams on earth.

World Cup 2010 Final Report Cards (Part 1/2)

2010-07-12T20:29:00.000+08:00

Finally World Cup 2010 has ended, and it somewhat ended the way it started. No, not a match with a blistering thunderous shot, but actually the penultimate game of the tournament was simply the embodiment of one of the biggest criticisms about the tournament, especially early on regarding the extreme lack of goals in the matches. For one, I really pity my dear friends in those parts of the world with the time zones such as GMT +7, 8, 9, or 10. It means that fans in those places had to try their best to be awake at such an ungodly hours in which the demons, Dracula, vampires you name them reign supreme. To make matters worse, for those people, the World Cup 2010 final came at a very very ungodly early morning of a Monday, a true blue Monday Blues inducing workday. Many people that I know who happen to find themselves in countries with those time zones mentioned above had actually wanted to give it a miss, but they simply could not do so as the whispers of “Once in every four years” kept on haunting them to no end. Thus, they decided to simply sacrifice hours of precious sleeping hours and put their health in jeopardy just to see two teams playing with an exact same of a 4-5-1 formation's variant (thanks Mourinho) and doing what DPRK's goalkeeper Ri Myong Guk dubbed as “Defending the gates to the Motherland” (He said it during DPRK's 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh to seal their qualification to World Cup 2010). It was simply better to just sleep, wake up in the morning, grab the nearest newspaper, and take a good, long, hard look at that skimpy 1-0 scoreline and that's the World Cup final for you, without sacrificing hours of sleep and perhaps a workday/schoolday for the more daring ones.

In any case, this edition of the World Cup is over, and of course this is the time to analyze Holland and Spain, the two team that competed yesterday (Yawn!). Actually, it's sad to see two such traditionally attacking teams to play like Greece under Otto Rehhagel. But nevertheless, this is the time to assess both teams based on what I had written about the various possible ways that each one of those teams could do to stop another, and now this is the time to assess whether both teams did what I had stated and explained in great detail in those two part articles prior to the 3rd place playoffs and of course the final itself. Just like the preview articles, this one will also be divided into two parts, and the first report card to be flaunted around would be the one belonging to the runners-up, Holland.

The first way I proposed for Holland to be able to stop Spain was to put Spain in an unfamiliar position in this tournament of going a goal or more behind. Basically, the Dutch should have striven to attack the Spaniards very early on, put them in the position of what the Swiss had put the Spaniards in their Group H opening match, and with the qualities in the Dutch squad, they should have been able to shake Spain so much that they could have won by a bigger scoreline that the Swiss. However, the Dutch failed big time to fulfill this target to score an early goal against Spain and make them trail, and thus causing them to open up even more and thus be susceptible to the second and subsequent Dutch goals. Well, again, it was due to the rather conservative and defensive 4-2-3-1 formation with two defensive midfielders and with only one striker up front. For the Dutch, Robin van Persie was their lone striker, and it was too much to ask any player (Cristiano Ronaldo wilted in this role in this sadly popular formation) to be up front on his own and weave their magic alone to make the difference. Not that the Spaniards were playing with a more attacking approach. They utilized the exact same formation, and were defensive orientated in that match. Also, anyone having a tingle of football knowledge would have realized that van Persie will not have any chance against the double pillars of Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, augmented by players such as Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila. In short, van Persie was simply too isolated and there was totally no chance he could score in that match, let alone score early in the match. The same goes to Robben and Sneijder who simply could not do anything against 4-5 players who will surely come and surround them everytime they have the ball. This time, the example from another team is of course Leo Messi who looked so ordinary and even anonymous as he was shackled by 4-5 defenders each time he wants to do anything, let alone something magical with the ball. Therefore, the Dutch simply failed to score early on and kill off the match early on.

The second way for Holland to stop the Spaniards was to make their sheer physical superiority count at all costs. Well, “at all costs” would be too much as what we witnessed last night. I mentioned that especially in the midfield, the Dutch really had to utilize whatever advantage that they enjoyed such as the fact that they are endowed with two burly and rather steely defensive midfield duo of Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong who are more than capable of swatting aside pint-sized Spanish midfielders such as Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, and even the lone striker Villa, who was also too isolated on his own just like van Persie for the Dutch. However, the Dutch players, not only the two I have just mentioned but basically the whole squad overdid things a little. A look at the statistics of last night's match would reveal a harrowing and perhaps horrifying set of facts 9 yellow cards, including a red card for a second yellow received by Johnny Heitinga in the extra time and a whopping 28 fouls against Spain. Not forgetting the various rough fouls such as Nigel de Jong's infamous “Big Boot” onto Xabi Alonso's chest and he survived just because he is a man, if not... I shall not continue on. Many of the Dutch tackling, pushing, and shoving were all executed with no intention whatsoever to get the ball, as on many occasions the ball had long left the area. To be fair to the Dutch players, the Spanish players sometimes fell down rather too easily, but the Dutch players did it too, but nonetheless, the Dutch simply had to remember that they were playing football and not pro-wrestling, but their fouls, just like de Jong's Big Boot to Xabi Alonso indicated they were too carried away in executing the task of stopping the Spaniards.

Again, nevertheless, the Dutch managed to at least stifle Spain although the price was rather expensive to pay especially Heitinga's sending off in extra time. But it could have been much worse for the Dutch. Remember, Spain on paper is simply the most devastating and arguably the best team at present, just imagine Real Madrid and Barcelona combine forces with each other to form a coalition team, and that's Spain National Team. Despite the fact that Spain's performances have not been convincing all tournament long, they have to be stopped in each match and the Dutch, who have not been really that world beating and convincing themselves throughout the tournament might even suffer what England and Argentina did against their rivals Germany. One thing we have to remember in football is that, “Form is temporary, class is permanent”. All in all, despite the positive of how the Dutch managed to stifle Spain especially in midfield where they are the most dangerous, their plethora of cards collected and the dismissal of Heitinga simply overrode the positives as when players are on yellow, their tackling automatically become lighter as they are under the referee's and everyone's microscopes when an opposing player fell down around them. Just like how the commentator was radying himself to announce the dismissal of Spain's Carles Puyol (who was on yello) when Robben fell down around him and Capdevila when the ref turned out to give the real player who fouled Robben, Capdevila.

The Dutch also did quite well in nullifying the Spanish attacking threats from Villa as well as other players such as Iniesta (except for the only goal of the game), Jesus Navas, Xavi, Sabi Alonso, and of course David Villa by playing the stamina draining pressing game. Whenever a Spanish player advanced towards their penalty area, there were 4-5 Dutch players surrounding that player from all angles, just like how the Germans managed to neutralize Leo Messi and reduced him to just an ordinary player.

However, there was one thing that the Dutch did not manage to really embed into their minds prior to the match as well as the match proceeded on. The last thing I mentioned in the prescriptions on how Holland could stop Spain was regarding the psychological aspects of the game. I mentioned that the Dutch players really have to get rid of any psychological intimidation that the Spanish National Team exudes. A short while ago, I mentioned briefly on how the Spanish National Team is the best ever team in the planet on paper? But a football game is not won on paper, no matter how people might wet their pants just from seeing the composition and the sheer depth of world class players within the Spanish squad and even those outside who did not even make the cut, the Dutch as world class players themselves who are striving for glory should not have that kind of feeling, or in simpler and conservatively put term, they should not have respected the Spaniards too much. But they did. The fact that they overdid the second aspect of ways to stop Spain (to win the physical battles) proved that they were too eager or even too afraid to really let Spain play the game freely and gracefully. They were not willing to risk anything by bravely taking the game to Spain, to attack the oppositions head-on. But due to the sheer thought of Barcelona and Real Madrid when they are ticking, they simply wilted and resorted in stopping Spain from playing in whichever ways possible, as long as they are stopped, it's okay. Also, besides Robben's two spurned one on one chances against Casillas as well as Spain's odd chances here and there, both sides were frankly having one eye not only towards the extra time, but towards the lottery of the penalty shoot-outs. The Dutch, for one, did not even change their mentality once they know that even Spain did not try to go all the way to the top gear and try to get to the top gears themselves and simply bombard and suffocate Spain to put them to the sword once and for all. But they failed to do that and duly paid the prize when Iniesta slotted in that goal 3 minutes from the end of the second half of Extra Time.

Overall, perhaps due to the above psychological reasons or even due to the defensive oriented formation that the Dutch employed against Spain, the only objective they truly achieved was in stifling David Villa from scoring yet another goal in the World Cup and also prevented him from winning the Golden Boot award. They overdid the physical battles, they were not hungry enough to score plenty of goals especially early on to kill he game off before it spilled out to Extra Time, and they seemingly could not get past the psychological barriers of the sheer star-studdedness of the Spain National Team, now officially the best national team in the world, while Holland once again proves how they seem unable to win the World Cup no matter what and even if they look destined to win the whole thing, they are stopped right before they could reach the finish line... As usual...

3rd Place Play-off Conundrum

2010-07-10T22:32:00.001+08:00

Wherever you go right now, especially when you are socializing with family members, relatives and/or friends, you are most likely to be asked, “Holland or Spain?”. Trust me, today alone, I was asked for an umpteenth time about which team I am going to root for in the final match of World Cup 2010 between Holland and Spain. Almost everyone if not every single person who likes or even only having little glimpses of football are talking about Holland and Spain. Not that they can be blamed though. This is the finale, the mother of all football games, the biggest ever game of the football calendar. However, everyone of us, at least at some point this week forgets one huge thing about the World Cup, and that's none other than the presence of one more match, the 3rd place playoff which is contested between the two loser teams in the semi-finals round of the World Cup. This year, that 3rd place playoff to determine the which team has the right to become the 3rd placed team in the competition. In simpler terms, and for those Olympic geeks, it's about “completing the podium”. It is sad that such a game which is supposed to be some sort of “pseudo-final” can be forgotten rather easily by the general public as well as the staunchest of fans of football in the world. For those who care, they are divided by a huge gulf of two separate opinions regarding the justification of the existence of this much forgotten match. This World Cup's 3rd place playoff will be contested between Uruguay and Germany who were defeated by Holland and Spain respectively in the semi-finals, and this compels me to just contribute my two cents' worth on this issue, and trying to fathom the possible motives for people denouncing as well as defending the playoff game.

The first and only fact that causes this playoff game to be forgotten by the public is because of the very fact that people are only focused on the final. This is quite understandable as the final game itself is ultimately the penultimate game which would decide who will be crowned as the champions of that particular edition of the World Cup. Especially with the very fact for this particular edition whereby the final will be contested between two footballing powerhouses that have historically been dubbed “the best team to not have won the World Cup Trophy”, Spain and Holland. Let's start with Spain. Besides the bizarre Final Group Stage system in place at the 1950 World Cup, they have never been able to go beyond the quarter-finals stage of the competition. This is despite the fact that Spain have traditionally been possessing an array of world beating talents on paper, but for one reason or another, they have always been failing big time to reach the last four. As for Holland, this is after all the country that mesmerized the world with its Total Football style especially in the 1970s, and in that decade, they reached the final of the World Cup on two consecutive editions of the World Cup in 1974 and 1978, losing to both hosts West Germany and Argentina respectively. Just like Spain, throughout their history, their squad have been filled with world class players but their squads have always been marred with troubles mostly internal strife among players or even player(s) and the manager.

A clash between those two teams who are competing fiercely to finally win their first ever World Cup Trophy and finally have one star above their national team's crest will always be a huge spectacle, and it is inevitable that the hype and the build-up of the game are huge and sweeping the entire planet. This is valid for every edition of the World Cup, but due to the aforementioned two countries that are contesting the final, this further consigns the 3rd place playoff to a mediocre game and even an irrelevant game that should not exist. Everyone is thinking, “come on, just get on with the final, we don't want to see those two losers anymore in this World Cup!”, of course the loudest of that would come from the neutrals, but for this World Cup, I am pretty damn sure that the neutrals totally outnumber the number of the Spaniards and the Dutch in this world.

Due to the above reason, and also due to the fact that both teams contesting the 3rd place playoff have just been defeated within a week in the semi-finals, both teams are likely to be lacking in morale as well as anymore drive to compete. After all, they have just been defeated and are simply denied a place in the final and of course the opportunity to grab the World Cup Trophy. The purists of the competition would argue that the whole point of having matches in the World Cup competition is to advance to the next round and to get closer and closer to the ultimate prize, which is none other than the World Cup Trophy itself. However, technically the 3rd place playoff is nothing of that sort. There's no further round to advance to, and there's no longer a trophy to be striven for. According to the purists who really take the concept of “knockout rounds” probably a tad too seriously and to the letter, the loser is knocked out and that's it, there will be no further involvement of the losers in the tournament. In other words, and perhaps a reference to a pro-wrestling match-up type, “Loser Leaves Town” and that's all. Besides, it should not be interesting to see two teams who are forced to play one another right after they have just suffered rather difficult to take defeats. It would perhaps be just like kicking a man when he's down, or in this case, kicking two men who are down, and then force them to bring their A-games and fight one another to determine the best among the losers.

Despite all that, we have seen throughout the history of the World Cup that the 3rd place playoff has always been a showcase of a rather liberal and gung-ho attacking style of play between two teams who have nothing more to lose and nothing more to compete for. For example, the 2002 World Cup's 3rd place game between co-hosts South Korea and Turkey ended 3-2 in the Turkish's favor as both teams attacked each other liberally in an entertaining match. Same goes for the 2006's edition as hosts Germany beat Portugal 3-1 in a glittering display of attacking football, especially from the host team in which the German fans in attendance had a lot to cheer their national team in that match to cap their marvelous World Cup performance.

Talking about cheers from fans, the 1998's 3rd place playoff also triggered plenty of cheers and plenty to be proud about to the citizens of a certain country, and that country was Croatia, a debutant to the World Cup competition. Croatia was not quite a renowned footballing nation at that time, and blessed with an array of talents such as Robert Prosinecki and Davor Suker, the country which gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 dazzled their citizens and won many of fans among the neutrals when they went all the way to the semi-finals of the competition before bowing out in the semi-finals to the hosts and eventual champions France in which Lilian Thuram scored a brace which were ultimately the only two goals he had ever scored for his country. They lost to France 2-1. The dream of the tiny nation was squashed with that defeat, but they still had their moment to shine, and that was the 3rd place playoffs. They were up against Holland (who lost to Brazil on penalties), and to cut a long story short, they managed to beat Holland 2-1 and those who had shed tears in the semi-finals were now shedding tears of joy. Arguably, this achievement of finishing 3rd in the 1998 World Cup was the catalyst of the nation's slow but steady rise to become a good (but not yet great) footballing side and are still continuing to improve as a footballing nation. The confidence, the pride, and the joy of 1998 kicked things off for Croatia, and thus the importance of the 3rd place playoff cannot be underestimated so lightly.

Putting things in context, Uruguay and Germany, the two teams competing for the third place in the competition will stand to gain plenty of benefits if they manage to win this encounter. Uruguay, a historically great footballing nation, especially in the first 50 years of 20th century, have somewhat been in a slump ever since and a 3rd place finish in this World Cup might trigger one big change in this country and wake this sleeping giant which has been in some sort of an unwanted hibernation especially among its citizens. As for Germany, which has a dynamic youthful squad, a great victory in this tie will definitely restore their massive confidence seen in their double drubbing of England and Argentina in the last 16 and quarter finals respectively after that anti-climactic defeat against Spain in the semi-finals. At the very least, these youngsters would end the World Cup in glory, in celebration, and they would go home with a medal, although that's not the color they want, but nevertheless, they manage to end their campaign with a win, and this will go a long way in ensuring that the youngsters will continue to believe in themselves and start to pursue more glories, starting from the qualification campaign to Euro 2012 and the competition proper two years from now.

Lastly, did anyone mention medal? And yes, there is a winners' medal being dispensed for the winners of this 3rd place playoff tie. Again, for the Olympic junkies out there, the 3rd place match indeed completes the “podium” for the World Cup. I remember Olympic Games 2004 in which the US Basketball team, dubbed the best team in the world by far, being defeated in the semi-finals stage which totally shook the basketball universe at that time. They were expected to snatch gold and no chance or belief whatsoever were attributed to any other teams to challenge the US team to glory. Ultimately they were defeated against all odds, and they had to contend with trying to get the bronze medal, in other words the third place in the competition. I remember the US team was quite in a disarray, everyone was demoralized and were basically just in a shell-shocked mode. Tim Duncan, the US Team's captain reportedly told his team during the pep talk before the game that “Hey, even if it's nothing more than the bronze medal that we are aiming for right now. It's still better than nothin'!” and they duly won the third place match to win that bronze medal and third place.

From that story, I won't be surprised if the respective captains of Uruguay and Germany included at least an equivalent of what Tim Duncan had said to the US team prior to their 3rd place play-off. So what if they fail to compete for the World Cup. They are still in it, there's still something significant to be fought very hard for with all their might. From restored confidence, possible resurrection and/or emergence of a football nation (re-emergence for the case of Uruguay), and of course the fact that the teams which are always remembered are the 1st, of course, the runners-up, and the third placed team. While the proverbial fourth placed team is forgotten. For those who love to surf Wikipedia, just check out the various World cup editions, as well as the aforementioned basketball section of the 2004 Olympics, and just glance at the very beginning of the page, and in the article, the first, second, and third team in the competition are stated while the “fourth” placed team are not.

Also, the match between Uruguay and Germany will be further spiced up by the fact that the race to the Golden Boot is still pretty much open for Klose's Germany, and even if he fails to capture the tournament's Golden Boot (which means his rivals David Villa and Wesley Sneijder score some goals in the final), two goals from the veteran German striker would be enough for him to surpass Ronaldo (the Brazilian version) as the top scorer in the World Cup finals of all time. Surely Klose will relish this chance to make history for himself and to regain the record for his country (after the Brazilian had surpassed Gerd Muller, a German).

Not to forget the fact that two key players of both teams Luis Suarez for Uruguay and Thomas Muller for Germany will also be eager to perform for their countries again after both men had been suspended for their semi-final games. They will also be eager to compete for the Young Player of the Tournament award. All in all, for this match-up, everything still to play for for both countries, and there's no reason not to be psyched up and be compelled to win this one gloriously.

Therefore, no matter how many reasons that detractors of this play-off game want to bring up such as the few mentioned at the beginning of this piece, there are always reasons which totally justify the continuing existence of the 3rd place playoff game stated just above and perhaps those reasons are much bigger and much more significant than the reasons to play down the importance of the 3rd place playoff game. Besides, there's still the bronze medal to be played for, a special glory in its own way, and also a way to end the World Cup Campaign in victory, basking in the loud cheers (and vuvuzela sound for this World Cup) of their fans, as well as receiving the Bronze Medal, which many world class players actually do not possess, and there's every reason to be proud of the bronze medal. I know the very last reason might border with insanity, but that's a fact. Nevertheless, the upcoming 3rd place play-off game between Uruguay and Germany is the second last game of the World Cup 2010, and arguably will be the second last time that ordinary fans like yours truly could hear the much hated and equally much loved unique sound of vuvuzela which constantly reminds us that this is the first World Cup in Africa, and this is the vintage and exotic African culture. Also, the game will promise to be an explosive one with plenty of goals to be scored.

How to Stop Them? (Part 2/2)

2010-07-09T19:27:00.002+08:00

In the first part of this series, It has been explained deeply and in great detail about the possible ways that Spain could stop Holland in the World Cup 2010 final. Therefore, before I am being suspected of a staunch Spanish supporter or even a Spanish writer, I will now go through again in this second part about the possible ways and strategies that could be employed by Holland to stop the Spanish Armada from reaching the biggest treasure of them all in world football, the World Cup Trophy. There are several sides and aspects of how Holland could curb Spain en route to victory and to the trophy, namely winning the team battle on the pitch, winning the individual battles among individual players from both sides, and also the crucial and yet most underrated and unnoticed, the psychological battle on and off the pitch, especially the former during the 90 minutes or even 120 minutes of intense football.

The first aspect is of course the general battle between the two teams, culminating in scoring the necessary goals to wrap the game up before it could drag on to Extra Time and even the dreaded and much criticized penalty shoot-outs. Since that opening day defeat against Switzerland, Spain seems to have slowed down on their mesmerizing pass and move, or Barcelonaesque football if you like. They become somewhat a rigid and cautious unit and are not really hungry to inflict a bucketload of goals on the opponents, unlike their semi-final opponents, Germany. They have become so efficient as they grind 1-0 after 1-0 of results, which is not really what fans and pundits had hoped prior to the World Cup, but those are the kind of result which Jose Mourinho proudly and cockily would comment, “1-0? I don't care, we won!” and rightly so as Germany for all of their flashy football are consigned to competing in the low morale and infamous 3rd place play-off while efficient and pragmatic Spain are in the Final. If that is not enough, Carles Puyol's goal against Germany (only goal of the game of course) was dubbed by plenty of pundits as a “typical Bolton Wanderers goal”. That's another example of “Mourinho Effect” (hopefully I could write about this in depth in the near future) and also yet another sad example of Joga Bonito losing its life force steadily but surely to be replaced by pragmatic, catenaccio football. Welcome back 1960s, and Helenio Herrera would be shaking in delight in his grave as catenaccio makes a glorious comeback.

Alright, the point of the lengthy explanation above regarding the somewhat newfound playing habit of Spain was actually resulted in the aforementioned opening day defeat against Switzerland, in which their flashy football was thwarted in an efficient fashion with resolute defending and the Swiss simply ground a somewhat messy but no less than a 1-0 victory. Since then, especially during the knockout stages, Spain have knocked one team after another all with a 1-0 victory. Call them a squad of Megaman (for those who don't know, he's a robot who is able to copy and utilize his enemies' weapons) if you like, but they are playing to grind efficient 1-0 victory, and yeah, even if people want to argue that had Pedro passed the ball to Fernando Torres, they would have won 2-0 and not 1-0 all the way to the final, but yeah. Thus, since the opening day defeat of Switzerland, Spain have yet to concede a goal (except for that 2-1 match against Chile) and in any case they have yet to find themselves trailing their opponents in a match since Gelson Fernandes' winning goal in the opening match against Switzerland.

Therefore, what the Dutch should do is not to hold out themselves in search of a 1-0 win as Spain is most likely to be the team that gets the 1 winning goal and game over Holland. The Dutch have to take the Spaniards back all the way to the opening Group H meeting with Switzerland, and they have to do what Gelson Fernandes did to the Spaniards, score an early goal which would certainly put the Spanish players in a shell-shocked mode. After that 1 goal, the Spaniards are likely to panic and this would jolt their natural attacking instincts and just start playing their Joga Bonito game in their desperate attempt to equalize and save the game, it's Switzerland all over again. However, the Dutch, with Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt, the in form Golden Boot chasing Wesley Sneijder, and even van Persie have more than enough to quality to strike the heart of Spain's defense directly at the jugular, unlike the Swiss who really hung on to dear life with their staunch defending.

Of course, to score that early goal is not an easy task. Holland is up against the European Champions, a team which is scarily almost a hybrid of Barcelona and Real Madrid, almost a La Liga Selection Squad, augmented by other world class players such as Fernando Torres and Fabregas (who might well come home to Barcelona soon). Thus, as mentioned early on, the Dutch have to win their individual battles against the Spanish players. In the previous part, I pointed out Mark van Bommel as the weak link in the Dutch squad and might become their answer to Felipe Melo at anytime if the Spaniards are as crafty as the Dutch in their match against Brazil. However, we must not underestimate his importance in the match-up against Spain. Looking at the Holland midfield and defense consisting of players such as Nigel de Jong, van Bommel, van der Wiel, and Johnny Heitinga up against players such as Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Iniesta, and Pedro, you have to start thinking that it is just like a battle between Toms and Jerries. To stop the pint sized, speedy, and elusive Spanish midfielders from wreaking havoc and inflict damages to Holland, the Dutch need to really make the physical advantage that they have count to the last nanometer of their difference in height and build. Nigel de Jong and van Bommel together with the backline have to really use their physical superiority to stop them in their tracks, and if necessarily get a little rough with them. Heck with the yellow cards, as long as it's not red, and the small sized Spaniards are stopped, Holland have won three-quarters of the battle, and the only thing left is to finish off Spain by scoring a goal or two for good measure.

Another area which the Dutch must really pay attention to, especially if they fail to break the duck during the first half and/or up to 60th minute, they really have to find a way to stop the movements of David Villa and Fernando Torres (if the latter is playing). Despite many fans and pundits criticizing Fernando Torres to no end, even as far as calling him Samson as they claim that he has become useless after having a haircut. But I assure the world that Torres had done this before during his Atletico Madrid years in which he was sporting an identical hairdo as Juan Sebastian Veron and Stone Cold Steve Austin and I assure you he was still good with that hairdo. In the actual fact, Torres played a huge role in Spain's charge to the final, especially their charge to the semi-finals (as he didn't play vs Germany). The sharper ones among us have observed that during the knockout stages, David Villa has been scoring in those 1-0 victories, and he did not score in the semi finals against Germany. Why? Torres played in the previous matches but he did not play against Germany as mentioned. Even if he does not score any goals in this tournament, he has undoubtedly played a huge role for his team, and for their sake, I really hope a Villa-Torres pairing will be restored in the final. But yeah, this is about stopping Spain, and so, the role of Torres has actually been that of a decoy. He simply sacrifices hmself to make off the ball runs around the opponents' penalty area and players of his stature cannot be ignored by the opposing defense and they will commit men to mark him. This will undoubtedly free up space for David Villa to score.

Thus, assuming that those two play in tandem for Spain in the final, the Dutch will have to keep in mind never to over-commit their defensive manpower to just handle Torres alone as Villa is lurking around the penalty box himself, ready to pounce to any chances coming his way, or half chances for that matter to be converted into deadly goals. If possible they should close down the Spaniards as often as possible, even if this is a stamina wasting strategy, but letting Villa, Torres, Xavi, Iniesta et al. to roam freely is simply suicidal. Even during set pieces, extra attention have to be given to defenders such as Puyol and Pique from doing damage with their heads just like how the Germans found out to their cost and also they have to be careful with Sergio Ramos' deadly forwards runs and if possible to launch counterattacks through that flank. Especially with the aforementioned closing down strategy, the Dutch will have to find a way to conserve their stamina carefully, considering how they always deflate towards the end of the match as mentioned in Part I and that Spain is a team with plenty of explosive talents on the bench, such as Fabregas, Jesus Navas, and David Silva just to name three ready to destroy the surely tired Dutch defense at the point of their fresh introduction into the fray.

Lastly, it is certainly going to be the psychological aspect of the game. Like I said earlier, a glance at the Spanish squad list would send chills down anyone's spine, with glittering players plying their trade at the very best clubs. Plethora of world class talents in which 23 man slots seem to be unfair for a country with such an array of talents as many more of the world class talents such as Marcos Senna and Santi Cazorla are left out of the squad. This is truly the very best team in the world on paper at least! However, the Dutch must not have those words that I have just written in their minds. They have to clear their mind about how Spain is composed of players from Real Madrid, Barcelona, best teams blah blah, but they really have to believe that they are in the final against Spain, they are not any weaker than Spain, and that they are the best. Bert van Marwijk must simply show his motivational skills here and embed that in the players' minds while trying his best to erase any traces of inferiority complex in the squad. Jose Mourinho has done it, yes he's such an impactful manager, single-handedly resurrected catenaccio football, depose the long heralded 4-4-2 all the way to the dustbin and make 4-5-1 and its derivatives the new winning formula, as well as totally redefining the word “confidence”. He has done it with Inter as they totally stopped Barcelona from playing and simply defeat them over two legs in the Champions League en route to their historic Treble Winning season. Bert van Marwijk must do the same and psyche his squad up. Perhaps Wesley Sneijder could be of great help as he was part of that historic Inter team.

In any case, even though it doesn't really promise to be a match flooding with goals, and that both teams will cancel each other with their own ways and wits to stop each other (just like if you read Part I and II of this series in a row, everything will cancel out), it promises to be explosive, to be a final to remember, and as sad as it could be, the World Cup is ending, let us savor the last 180 minutes of football at the very least that is left (along with the 3rd place playoff between Germany and Uruguay) and simply enjoy the moment and the World Cup Spirit, and until the competition arrives again in four years' time in Brazil.

How to Stop Them? (Part 1/2)

2010-07-08T19:56:00.000+08:00

The semifinals of the World Cup 2010 have come and go. Holland managed to overcome the resilient but under strength Uruguay in a thrilling 3-2 encounter, while Spain finally managed to shake off their “flopping on a big stage” curse and cruised to the final to face Holland after totally turning off the goal tap of Germany and finished them off by a narrow 1-0 scoreline. Holland and Spain will battle it out in a high stakes battle to become the very first European nation to win the trophy outside of their own continent and also for each of them to win the thing for the very first time in their respective histories. One main question which is undoubtedly in the minds of everyone associated with the respective teams the moment Spain defeated Germany 1-0 last night is surely just like what the title above is saying, “How to stop them?”. The following will be some possible ways that could be employed by the respective teams to halt the other in their quest for glory. In this first part, it will be about how to stop the first team that reached the final, and that's Holland.

Despite the latest 3-2 victory against Uruguay which brought them straight to the final in a few days' time against Spain, I for once feel that it is still necessary to pinch one's hand to make sure that Holland really have reached the final of the competition. Since their opening match against Denmark all the way until now, it seems that they have yet to really hit the high gears, and they have progressed only with strolling pace at most. But they are here, collecting one major favorites' scalp of Brazil along the way. However, not matter how slow they have “crept up” all the way to the final, they are indeed unstoppable, having won every single match in the competition so far, and only Spain provides the last and massive challenge to claim their very first World Cup title in their history, another hard-to-believe fact considering how Holland have been and are one of the biggest football powerhouses of the world. No matter what, Holland is now seemingly unstoppable and despite their lack of visible overdrive unlike their rivals Germany (except for their anti-climax loss against Spain) they are unstoppable and Spain have to find some ways to stop them. Nevertheless, Holland is just a football team, and like any other team, other football teams should be able to find some ways of stopping them.

The first thing that Spain should bear in mind is that this Holland team only seem to be able to hold their lines out for 85 minutes. In the Group Stages, it is not really shown as to be frank, Japan, Denmark, and Cameroon are not really the world beaters around, and as for Brazil in the quarter finals, the Brazilian team was so chaotic and in such a state of disarray during the second half of the match against Holland that again it didn't show. But, Holland's weakness in the last 5 minutes or so of the match were shown clearly in two matches. Firstly, it was the last 16 match against Slovakia. Holland scored at the 18th and 84th minute in a relatively comfortable match for them to have a 2-0 lead. However, for reasons unknown, in the last few minutes of the match, they were pinned back by Slovakia, and the Slovaks looked closer and closer to scoring one or more goals to force the match to extra time. However, with some luck and the goalkeeper Stekelenburg's heroics, they manage to keep the Slovak bombardment at bay until they conceded an unnecessary penalty kick and they were pegged back 2-1 albeit in the last minute. Another instance was of course during their semi final match with Uruguay in which they romped to a 3-1 lead up to the 73rd minute before again being pegged back 3-2 at the last minute, and between then and the final whistle, they were always in danger of conceding one more to force extra time.

Another fact would be that the Dutch almost always score goals between the 70-80th minute, in which after that period of goals galore for them, then the aforementioned slack of defense started to show. Thus, assuming that Spain continues to play the way they have been playing since that 0-1 opening match defeat against Switzerland and especially the knockout stages, Spain's best bet would be not to lose concentration throughout the match to thwart the deadly and stealthy Dutch attacks especially during the aforementioned 10 minutes period in which the Dutch have the knack of scoring deadly goals and to keep their attacking approach in the last 10 minutes of the match plus injury time to score the goals that will surely kill the Dutch as they are the most vulnerable during the dying minutes of the match. Spain have to score more than one if necessary, especially if they concede early on, as they don't want to be like Slovakia and Uruguay, scoring at the last minute but only for a futile goal which is more of a consolation goal rather than an equalizing or a winning goal.

When I mentioned keeping guard of the Dutch players throughout the match, the first element of that would be to try to keep the rearguard tight, and also to pay attention to the outside of the penalty area, between the center circle and the penalty box to be precise, as the Dutch are extremely dangerous with their long, accurate, and deadly powerful shots. Arjen Robben has shown what he could do with his deadly left foot during the Slovakia match. Sneijder during almost all of the matches especially the Brazil match, and even the aging but still reliable Captain Gio van Bronckhorst who showed the world that his left foot still contains plenty of fuel with his crashing long shot to open the scoring in the match against Uruguay. Thus, the key is for Spain's defenders, especially midfielders to deny all of these players any space to execute their long shots and/or magical pass into the box, as even if they are denied a chance to shoot properly, if they could still pass, the increasingly forgotten van Persie is still up front, and ready to strike at anytime. It would not be easy as players such as Xabi Alonso, Xavi, and Sergi Busquets will have to find a way to balance their attacking duties with their defensive ones to contain the Dutch players. It will also be wise for the Spanish players to refrain from fouling the Dutch players around the penalty area and of course inside of it.

The second component of Spain's defensive work would be the most obvious one, which is to shackle Sneijder in place so that he won't be free to roam everywhere on the pitch to cause troubles. Fro the aforementioned long shots, sending amazing passes especially from free kicks around the penalty area, as well as heading the ball despite his rather small size. To keep things simple and in perspective, Sneijder is a complete package of utter destruction for the opposing teams, and thus he has to be contained as if Spain fail to do that, the world can be as sure as hell that Sneijder will be the direct cause to their defeat and that he will undoubtedly be on the scoresheet at least once and is almost certain to claim the tournament's Golden Boot award (barring a flurry of goals from Klose in Germany's match against Uruguay). It will surely be a busy night for the Spanish defenders, and Sergio Ramos will once again need to curb his knack of galloping forward all the way to the opponents' goal to help contain the real danger posed by the Inter player.

The Dutch skillfully masterminded a total detonation of Brazil's walking time-bomb, Felipe Melo. However, the Dutch fans around the world or even the Dutch squad themselves may not realize that they have something resembling Felipe Melo in their squad, and that man is Mark van Bommel. The midfield hard man has been quite rough throughout this career, and it showed rather clearly in this tournament as wayward fouls, bone crunching tackles, fierce bully-like intimidation to opponents and even the referee have been regular fixtures in the Bayern Munich man's game. Even though he has been rather lucky not to receive red cards for his antics, he is nevertheless a walking time bomb, and an accident waiting to happen. That's not to say that I am suggesting Spain to stoop so low as to ask Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro, or even Villa to just do simulation antics repeatedly in an attempt to get van Bommel sent off, but at least there's one way within the boundaries of fair-play that could be utilized by the Spanish players to do some damage here. The way could be a way resembling how Holland systematically took advantage of Brazil's weak link Michel Bastos and of course Felipe Melo, and also how Germany took apart Argentina by taking advantage of a chronic weakness of Argentina's right side of its defense. Thus, players such as Xabi Alonso and Xavi should direct the attack through the center, especially towards the right in which van Bommel is stationed. Sooner or later, when faced with so many balls, so many players, and also so much pressure, van Bommel might just boil over and start conceding unnecessary fouls that will benefit Spain and even start to collect cards. This strategy might seem to be unethical, but that's football, and in such a high stakes match in the biggest football event in the world, any opportunities to win (within the boundaries of fair play of course) should be exploited to bridge the difference between winners and losers, which is as thin as the air in high altitude.

Lastly, Spain have to have the belief in themselves that the fact they are in the final is not a mere accident or even a fluke, like how some sections of the pundits and fans around the world have started to whisper around. They have to belief that they are in the final due to merit, due to their sheer determination to win, and above all, due to the quality of the players in their squad, and not forgetting the abilities of their rather low profile but world class coach Vicente del Bosque. This match will determine which team becomes the very first European team winning the World Cup outside of their own continent, and above all, this match will determine which federation will receive their first ever star above their crest, in other words, the very first World Cup in their history. Spain have to believe that this is the time which their glittering stars, an amazing, almost dream team like coalition of world class players mainly from Barcelona and Real Madrid reach the apex of the footballing universe by winning the grandaddy of them all, the World Cup trophy!

Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 2/2)

2010-07-06T20:24:00.003+08:00

In this second part about Argentina's visible gaping holes in their squad, it will now be about Javier Zanetti's possible impacts on the team had he been included in Maradona's 23 man squad alongside Esteban Cambiasso, whose analysis on his possible impacts have been explained in part 1. To be frank, no matter how well argued arguments such as the one written by yours truly in part 1 about the justifications for Cambiasso's inclusion in the squad, many would be able to still argue against it in a relatively effortless manner. However, for Javier Zanetti's inclusion, in which he would have been occupying the right back berth in the squad, there can be a much stronger case for his inclusion considering how that right back position has been a continuously persistent problem in Maradona's squad. Also, we have to bear in mind that all four goals that Germany scored against Argentina in that embarrassing 4-0 thrashing of Argentina came from the Germans' left flank (in other words, Argentina's right). Besides that, Javier Zanetti's inclusion will certainly add a plethora of dimension to the Argentine squad and will no doubt massively strengthening it as a whole, and all of these will be outline in the following paragraphs.

The first and main effect of J. Zanetti's inclusion in the Argentina World Cup 2010 squad is certainly to put a lid on Argentina's chronic and totally unnecessary as well as preventable right back conundrum. Throughout the tournament, Maradona has been struggling to put someone suitable for the right back position and throughout the tournament, he fielded players whose positions are anything but the rigght back position. At the beginning of the tournament, Maradona fielded Jonas Gutierrez, and his natural position is as a left winger. Even two victories out of two against Nigeria and South Korea could not save him from being criticized as “uncomfortable and unstable” playing as a right back, and thus for the last Group Stage game against Greece, the right back position was occupied by Nicolas Burdisso, a center back. Again, Argentina marched to a 2-0 victory. In their 3-1 victory against Mexico in the last 16, Maradona fielded Nicolas Otamendi, a center back by trade just like Burdisso, and after the victory Maradona finally settled for Otamendi, fielded him again for that fateful match against Germany in the quarter finals, and the rest, as they say, is history. As mentioned, that deficiency on the right back position was ruthlessly exposed by the efficient Germans and their goals were all from there. Also, Otamendi looked like Argentina's answer for Michel Bastos, as if they were competing just like how the Soviet Union and the USA competed for space technologies during the Cold War. Even in the midst of the thrashing, Otamendi was substituted deep into the second half, and was replaced by Javier Pastore, an attacking midfielder who did not even take that right back position and thus for the last 30 minutes, it was occupied by thin air, again I am sure thin air was “uncomfortable and unstable” as a right back. Jokes aside, all of those chronic problems involving the right back position would not be so problematic had Javier Zanetti was there.

I know I have been preaching a lot about how a player's club performance can never be used as a yardstick for their international performance and names such as Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney, and of course Cristiano Ronaldo will be thrown into the argument. However, let's just think rationally and look at it this way. Which one would you choose? Players who are not right backs at all, or an evergreen, age-defying, world class right back who is at 36 years old is still ready at anytime to give 110% for his team, be it Inter, the club he served with distinction for so long, or his beloved country? I believe most if not all would definitely choose the latter, and rightly so. We have seen from his 15 years in Inter, he has amassed a whopping 700 appearances for the Nerazzuri, and also 136 cps for Argentina. This proves his longevity and level of fitness in which he rarely gets injured or miss a match or two. I know it's futile to do an inquest or asking “what if” questions by now, but just think about it, considering how he has performed so admirably for Inter and Argentina in all of his 700 and 136 appearances for both teams respectively, one might wonder if no less than four goals would have been shipped in by Argentina all from their opponents' left flank (which is Argentina's right) had Javier Zanetti was the one playing for the Albiceleste as their right back... Think about it.

Secondly, besides the obvious fact that Javier Zanetti is a right back and should have played as a right back for Argentina, especially considering the very fact that Argentina did not have a right back at all throughout the tournament, Javier Zanetti's inclusion in the squad will surely add yet another leadership quality in the squad, which I must admit was sorely lacking in the squad. Argentina's staunch backers will ask “how about Veron? He's the one who's supposed to be what you call the team's “pseudo-manager”” Yes, Veron is a senior player, and the oldest member of the squad, but still, I can't remember Veron as a player with plenty of leadership qualities if there's any, and I know I will start yet another of those “Leaders are born vs bred” kind of debates, but I won't go there, but one thing I know for sure, Javier Zanetti will be one of the names that would be cited in the “leaders are born” side of the debate. I am perfectly aware that Maradona, the manager who is in charge of motivation, team talks, and those kind of things in this squad. However, a manager can only do so much, and more specifically, they can only (literally and figuratively) can be present up to the boundaries between the dugout and the pitch. How about the leaders on the pitch? The “pseudo-manager” who is in charge of organizing and keeping the team together on the pitch, during the two halves (or more) of the game especially when things get tough? Maradona couldn't just don an Argentina jersey and go out to the field with the captain's armband, as much as he would love to do oh so much, and thus it will be left to players like Zanetti.

Looking at the players on the pitch against Germany, the only player who is the closest to that “pseudo-manager” that I have been talking about since before the World Cup (mostly about Ballack which I have been proven totally wrong on that, but yeah) was the one wearing the captain armband, Javier Mascherano. He became the captain of the Argentina team when Maradona stripped the armband from Javier Zanetti, and although he continued to field the Inter player for the qualifying campaign, he excluded Zanetti altogether from the World Cup squad, a decision which baffled many, and many more right now including yours truly. Back to Mascherano, I don't think he is suitable to be the captain, not that I could see another alternative from this squad though, except for Veron (who did not feature in the game). Alright, even if Mascherano was still the one wearing the armband, Zanetti's presence will undoubtedly make him the “true” captain of the team and will certainly augment the squad with his leadership qualities and aura. Even if with his presence, Germany managed to score that early against Argentina, there will be Zanetti who will exercise his “pseudo-manager” role in the squad and calm the team down, gather all of them together, and direct them to regroup and not to panic, especially for the defenders and their goalkeeper, Sergio Romero. Thus, they would not leak in more goals and even start to break the Germans down. Even if the effect is only psychological, it would still be significant, just like what I have mentioned and explained in detail in the first part of this on Esteban Cambiasso, in which the mere presence of Zanetti will also psychologically strengthen the squad especially the backline. Besides that, Zanetti will also be very calm under pressure and even possible provocations from the opponents, and he won't have conceded so many unnecessary fouls like Otamendi and even concede that free kick which resulted in the Germans' first goal which set the ball rolling for the embarrassing destruction of Argentina.

The last and another effect, and again similar to what Cambiasso would offer is the fact that Zanetti will help the attack significantly as well. However, while Cambiasso would help the attack with his pinpoint through passes, Zanetti will help the attack as they would be having an extra man forward and he will certainly be able to cross the ball well to aim for Higuain for him to finish it off. In that match, the source of crosses from deep were from the forward running Gabriel Heinze on the left flank, and since he is not the best crosser in the world, his crosses tended to balloon away from Higuain rather than really approaching Higuain properly. In any case, it was such a waste that Argentina bowed down from the competition with Germany exposing their flaws and deficiencies so ruthlessly and perhaps cruelly in front of literally the whole world. The German match really justified the Interista's arguments about the exclusion of both Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso by ten folds if not more.

In any case, what is done, is done. There's no point in looking backwards. No matter the reason, whether Maradona miscalculated or simply excluding both players on the same grounds as how Marcelo Lippi stubbornly excluded Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli, only Maradona himself knows for sure. But the fact remains that both players were not included in the squad, and although the effects were masked as Argentina simply notched victory after victory against teams who are to be frank, not contenders at all and are happy to go as far as they could, and when they really meet the real contenders, the big boys, the team that genuinely and realistically aim for the World Cup Trophy, they simply collapsed and the consequences from the exclusion of Cambiasso and Zanetti, especially Zanetti by manyfolds were ruthlessly shown and exposed, it showed that the Interistas might have been right after all.

Although all of these remain on paper and thus mere theories, and that things might even be not any better had they been included, but still, the way Germany won 4-0, all pointed to those two players and there's simply no room to hide for those who are still trying to justify the exclusion of the two Internazionale players.

Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 1/2)

2010-07-05T18:42:00.001+08:00

Argentina's and of course their manager Diego Maradona's dreams to join Franz Beckenbauer to have won the World Cup both as his country's captain and manager ended unceremoniously as they were utterly obliterated and generally capitulated ironically against an extra terrestrial Germany that is sure to be on a different time frame (faster) than their hapless opponents and simply thrash them one by one like pathetic mosquitoes facing the electric mosquito racket. As many people within the footballing universe have now grown accustomed to, even prior to this World Cup campaign, fans around the world, mainly Interistas and people who suddenly become Interistas after their marvelous Treble winning campaign have been constantly voicing out their utter discontent over Maradona's decision to exclude both the defensive midfielder Esteban Cambiasso and right back Javier Zanetti. At first I was baffled with this persistent complaints from the Interistas as I am not one of them, and I simply dismissed their complaints about Cambiasso and Zanetti as a simple example of a case of sour grapes towards Maradona as two of their key players in their aforementioned Treble winning season are not selected. This was even more so when Argentina blitzed through the Group Stages with three wins out of three even though they were against Nigeria, South Korea, and Greece.

Their 3-1 win against Mexico who looked like contenders just because France played like a pub team simply carried me away up up in the sky and further laughed the Interistas' complaints off. However, things went terribly wrong against Germany in the quarter finals, and amazingly, their destruction all stemmed from both defensive midfield and right back position, especially the latter. This played straight into the Interistas and will undoubtedly be the main source of ammunition against Maradona not only from them, but by most if not all pundits in their attempts to make an inquest against Maradona's World Cup campaign. Even I am starting to believe those Interistas after looking at how Germany systematically took apart Argentina on their way to a massive 4-0 victory that sent their Chancellor Angela Merkel dancing wildly in the stands. The Germans totally exposed their weaknesses and those weaknesses happened to be the positions occupied by Cambiasso and Zanetti, and I have also found the reasons on why the Intersitas were right after all. I will divide this into two, and I will start with my personal assessment on what Cambiasso's inclusion might have done to the Argentine team.

First things first, we know that Maradona played a rather attacking 4-4-2 diamond formation in World Cup 2010 to simply try and overwhelm their opponents and for their strong area (their attack) to be expressed. But Maradona should have played two defensive midfielders at the same time to screen and protect their fragile backline, an inherently weak area of a South American team, let alone Argentina. Their captain, Javier Mascherano can be one of the two defensive midfielders. But how about his partner? It is either Maxi Rodriguez or Juan Sebastian Veron who can partner him in that position in the current team. Both Maxi and Veron are all attacking oriented players and were certainly playing out of position and looked comfortable, despite many that might argue that since Maxi and Veron are ageing players, they have evolved and adapt to their advancing age by playing in a more withdrawn/defensive position but still, both players are still playing in an attacking role in their respective clubs and still, they are not comfortable playing as a defensive midfielder. Even if one might argue that Maradona could have fielded Mario Bollatti as Mascherano's partner, he still won't provide the same benefits that Cambiasso might have dished out for the team, and this will be argued and explained more and more as this goes on.

Since Mario Bollatti has come to the picture and he indeed could have partnered Mascherano had Maradona opted for two defensive midfielders to be played n his formation. But we just take a look at these two players. Bollatti is not really an experienced player on the international stage, as he only has 4 Argentina caps to his name, and he is so famous just because of his solitary and winning goal against Uruguay to clinch their place in the World Cup finals while consigning Uruguay to a tough and controversial playoff against Costa Rica. On the other hand, Cambiasso is a world class players with plenty of experience on the international set-up with 11 times the caps that Bollatti have amassed so far at 44 caps for his country. This would mean that had Bollatti partnered Mascherano, he would be a liability instead of becoming a useful helping hand to Mascherano. His inexperience will still be exploited ruthlessly by the mean machine, efficient, and even extra terrestrial Germans and Mascherano will be left covering for Bollatti and saving him for problems, and all this while he still needs to perform his own duty well to thwart the Germans. Also, there's no guarantee that the Germans won't do what Arjen Robben did to Michel Bastos and Felipe Melo, especially the latter. This will only mean that Mascherano will still be a one man defensive midfielder in the team, the team will be deprived of one attacking player which would inhibit their attacking flair (their strong point as mentioned) to be expressed properly, and also, carrying a potential liability and a time bomb. Cambiasso is experienced enough to avoid any dirty provocations like what Felipe Melo experienced and to slot into the formation perfectly and simply facilitating his partner Mascherano and to further augment the Argentine defense. In any case, for the German game especially, I still think that Argentina should have gone for a formation with two defensive midfielders as Walter Samuel, the only rock solid defender in the Argentina squad was absent with injury. When your team's defensive spine consists of Nicolas Burdisso and Martin Demichelis as your best options, and Sergio Romero as your very last line in defense, you really need to consider putting some kind of solid barricade in front of them.

In light of the previous explanation, the second effect of Cambiasso's presence in the squad will certainly still revolve around augmenting Argentina's rather porous defense. The presence of both Cambiasso and Mascherano, two world's premier defensive midfielders in front of the defenders and goalkeeper will certainly give them some kind of protective aura from which they could draw confidence and security in strutting their stuff on the pitch. The reason why Burdisso looks uncomfortable, Demichelis committing grave errors one after another, and Sergio Romero looks like an invisible man at times in goal is simply because they are continually called into action and ruthlessly exposed. Even seasoned central defenders and goalkeepers with nerves of steel will crumble and erroneous when chronically and consistently exposed against the brute of opponents' attacks. Thus, when the Argentine backline is screened with two world class defensive midfielders patrolling in front of them, chances of them being totally exposed by the opponents' attackers are considerably slimmer, and even if they are able to get past Cambiasso and Mascherano it's probably after a mountain of effort and even with s stroke of luck, and Burdisso and Demichelis can confidently and coolly and perhaps easily dispossess the shaken attacker and/or boot the ball away or pass it to another player to launch a fresh wave of attack. The psychological edge of having the aforementioned feeling and aura of security cannot be underestimated. Even placebo effects are so amazing, in which if one believes that a glass of ordinary plain water is a holy water taken from a particularly holy spring able to cure any diseases, the drinker will certainly feel so much better right after drinking the water. Thus, I strongly believe that the trio of Demichelis, Burdisso and Sergio Romero will certainly perform so much better had there been a proper screening and cover in front of them.

At this point of time, Argentina's fans will certainly think, “Hey, are you asking our proud national team to do a Dunga and even a step further by abandoning our proud attacking culture to Mourinho's Park-the-bus-in-goal tactics?” Definitely not, as it would certainly be such a waste of Argentina's array of massive attacking talents at Maradona's disposal in this tournament, and that parking a bus without doors and windows is never a good idea to prevent someone form slipping through easily through the bus and to the other side. Thus, the third and penultimate role that Cambiasso would have played had Argentina really fielded Mascherano and Cambiasso as two defensive midfielders, besides augmenting the defense, it would also be to bridge the defense and attack properly with his penchant of sending beautiful through balls whether on the ground or a long through ball in the air. Before I go further, I would say that the kind of formation that Maradona should have set-up would be a 4-2-3-1 formation widely used in this tournament. The “3” attacking midfielders would be Angel di Maria on the left flank, Maxi Rodriguez or even Javier Pastore as the right winger, and Messi as the “trequarista” with free role just behind the lone targetman Gonzalo Higuain who is a target striker in the mold of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Filippo Inzaghi.

We know that during the German game, Argentina's attacks were never successful and each time, they were thwarted properly in a scarily efficient manner. It seemed that they kept on running into an unbreakable invisible wall. (I won't say out the name of Germany's capital city as many Germans are still angry when one mentioned the word “Wall” after their capital city's name). Thus, the perfect solution would resemble Brazil's goal in their sad 2-1 loss against Holland in which Felipe Melo sent a through pass to bypass the entire Dutch midfield and defense to send Robinho clear on the goal one on one with the goalkeeper and duly scored from there. Thus, Cambiasso's penchant of sending precise, incisive through passes will be called into action here. Again, I am sorry I can't help but to refer to World War II to better illustrate what Cambiasso would do to augment the attack. Berlin was totally cordoned off and no food could be transported into the city (I won't go through the vivid details as it would mean I am out of point and I am diagnosed with ADHD), thus the Allies' solution was to send food and other necessities through the small air route that the Soviets had opened for air transports to and from Berlin, which was known as “The Berlin Airlift”. It is the same thing for Argentina. They had no way to go through the packed and efficient defense, and they kept on getting thwarted. Whenever di Maria and Messi tried to weave their magic, they can go past one or two Germans, but three or four more are waiting behind them and simply dispossess them. What to do? Even Messi can't do anything. Enter Cambiasso. He could have sent a incisive long ball which would bypass the entire midfield and defense of Germany (unless one of them is Superman's real identity and simply jumped up to head the ball away, I can't say anything) and to the path of Higuain who is certainly in the penalty area waiting for the ball as usual and he would just head the ball or send a deceptively simple tap-in into the net. I know it is not that easy as even in that match, he had one of his tap-ins ruled offside. Besides that, Cambiasso could also send a through pass to Messi, di Maria, or Maxi/Pastore and simply send them to be in a better position to dribble around and send that final ball to Higuain from a closer distance.

In any case, Esteban Cambiasso is a world class player with plenty of experience in the club scene as well as the national set-up of Argentina and will certainly add plenty of steel in defense while adding plenty of ammunition especially with his laser guided passes as mentioned above to further facilitate the attack, either directly to the targetman (Higuain) or via the creative players such as Messi, Pastore, and di Maria. What's done is done, and just like any inquest from any pundits in any medium, this is as futile as it could be, and still a theoretical framework which might not work well in practice when it is really implemented on the pitch. Detractors will still remind us to the 2006 version of the Argentina vs Germany match but it was the case of tactical mistake by the then manager and when utilized properly, Cambiasso will certainly add a lot of dimension and massively strengthen the Argentine team. The next part will be about Javier Zanetti, another player whose exclusion is lamented by Interistas worldwide, and which I also think they have a case as well, just like for Cambiasso.

Argentina 0-4 Germany World Cup 2010 Quarter Finals

2010-07-04T09:54:00.003+08:00

Just after the Group Stage matches have been concluded in World Cup 2010, South American countries were so dominating with every single countries qualified to the last 16 in a so scintillating manner beating everything in their path and playing beautiful football yearned so much by fans to boot. Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay all qualified in a convincing manner into the last 16 of the competition. At this point of time, I even read a long-winded and detailed assessment on the various reasons for the dominance of the South American countries, and of course laced with superlatives. But, something went terribly wrong from there onwards as the South American countries fell out one by one from the competition. Argentina were dumped unceremoniously last night against Germany in which it was really supposed to be a tightly contested match between two giants in the game, but Germany were so extraterrestrial that it did not happen. Germany totally and thoroughly obliterated Maradona's boys, and to think that Thomas Muller, the one Maradona “mistook” as a ballboy in a press conference dishing out the most damage, I shudder to think what Maradona would be feeling right now.

Actually, what Germany did was very simple, they took apart Argentina ruthlessly by taking a leaf out of their arch-rivals Holland's book in which they exploited a weak link in Argentina's squad just like how Holland exploited the weak link of Brazil in their match. It was Michel Bastos for Brazil on the left flank, but for Argentina, it was their right flank and the hapless Nicolas Otamendi which was truly overwhelmed and exposed by the Germans. In fact, all of the four goals conceded by Argentina were all from blitzkrieg (literally, as the speed of each attack is out of this world) piercing attacks from the left flank (thus Argentina's right). Two German facts. First, Saucer shaped flying vehicles were reportedly invented in Germany as blueprints or even prototypes of them were reportedly retrieved from Germany upon the Third Reich's defeat. The second fact is that, whenever we hear the world “Germany” or “Germans”, one thing comes to mind, “efficiency”. First up, the Germans really moved and passed the ball like how UFOs maneuver, just like how they thrashed England badly in the last 16 match, and just like the efficiency of the UFOs shape and mechanism, they do their moves in an efficient manner. Despite the wicked twists and turns all over the field, they really wasted little energy if not at all and no single move was wasted. They also totally exposed Argentina's general weakness which is their back-line especially the right back position but they also efficiently and ruthlessly prevented Argentina from showing their strong points, which is their supposedly overwhelming attacks with an array of world class attackers at Maradona's disposal in this tournament. Also, to Germany's full credit and/or to an off day for the Argentine attackers, Germany foiled each attempts on goal very very easily in which Argentina were only restricted to futile long shots and even Messi was powerless against the German defense. Even if they got behind the German defense, such as how Higuain managed to “score” in the 36th minute, he was caught offside. Besides stopping Argentine attacks right on its tracks, they immediately launched their extra terrestrial counter led by Ozil and Muller which was truly devastating each time for the shaky Argentina's defenders.

As for Argentina, it still baffles me as how Maradona managed to leave a gaping hole to be exploited ruthlessly by the efficient German UFOs. Nicolas Otamendi looked shaky throughout the match and Jonas would have been a much better choice. This is also in light of the fact that the Argentine defense was already very porous due to the absence of Walter Samuel, who earned the nickname “The Wall” certainly not for nothing. Tough luck for Argentina as the Inter defender was absent when Argentina needed him the most in this tournament. When Otamendi received a yellow card early in the match, I was sure that he was Argentina's answer to Michel Bastos, or even worse to Felipe Melo, and when I saw several Argentina substitutes warming up early on I was relieved as I believed Maradona was about to make a very early change to alter the game's proceedings especially as Argentina's plans were failing as they conceded very early in the match and were in danger to concede more (which they did in the second half). I expected Jonas to replace the hapless Otamendi as he would be much more sturdy and solid in thwarting the German Blitzkrieg attacks from their left flank. But, Otamendi stayed on.

In the second half, Maradona did not make any changes and it duly got worse and worse and worse for Argentina as they conceded one more goal in the 67th minute. After this, Otamendi was finally brought off, but even if it was for Jonas, it was too late. But it wasn't for Jonas, but for the attacking midfield Javier Pastore! Instead of plugging the leak, it only caused the already porous Argentine defense to be even more porous. At this time, with their attack totally shackled, Higuain caught in the efficient German offside traps plenty of times (as his style is in the mold of Inzaghi and van Nistelrooy) while Messi was closed down by 4-5 Germans when he tries to weave his magic, and their defense was totally shambolic and totally in chaos at this point of time as they conceded one more goal through Arne Friedrich, a defender scoring his first ever goal for the national team in the 73rd minute, a substantiation and a stamp of approval that Germany played close to their rivals' Total Football and/or Argentina's defense preferring the final whistle to be blown there and then. In the 75th minute, Sergio Aguero was brought on by Maradona to try to change the game, but at 3-0 down, it was futile, even if other two Messi-s were brought on at that time, it would have been futile. With Argentina all but given up, and Maradona's face expression showed it all, as he ditched his usual animated and enthusiastic antics on the touchline and for the first time in this tournament he stood there in a stoic manner and was pale-faced from then on. At the 88th minute, Klose scored one more goal to make it 4-0 and also took his personal tally in the World Cup tied with Gerd Muller with 14 goals and just 2 more goals away to overtake Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima (so that people, especially younger ones won't be confused with the Portuguese version).

As for Maradona, it would be inevitable from here on that the pundits and the media in general will be licking their lips with plenty of ammunition to be dished out to the coach. Once again, every section of the media and most if not all pundits will again be condemning the man which they have just started to praise and acknowledge as a good manager. However, the most potent and plentiful ammunition will be from the Interistas, in which they will undoubtedly re-ignite the debate about the exclusion of Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso from the Argentina squad, a debate which has been silent for a while prior to his horrendous defeat. In any case, looking at how weak and exploited Argentine's right back position was, even I am starting to be carried off by those Interistas in which had Javier Zanetti occupied that right back position, all four Germany goals might have been prevented as all four goals came from the Germany's left flank as mentioned in detail above. Javier Zanetti is certainly more solid and capable than Otamendi and even Jonas, whose natural position is as a left winger.

It was a bad day for South American football, just when pundits around the world started to embrace Maradona as a world class coach, with one journalist from a top newspaper even go as far as writing a long winded formal apology to Maradona, and another explaining in detail full of superlatives to South American football and the reasons for their dominance in great detail, South American teams fall down one by one, and after Argentina was knocked out in the match above, Paraguay was also knocked out by a somewhat fortunate Spain side once again having to thank David Villa as their messiah. Just two rounds from the seemingly imminent conversion of World Cup 2010 to Copa America 2010, with only Uruguay as the only remaining South American representative, many pundits and fans are already predicting a final which is the rematch of 1974 World Cup final between rivals Germany and Holland. In other words, instead of Copa America 2010, now it is becoming Euro 2010.

Holland 2-1 Brazil World Cup 2010 Quarter Finals

2010-07-03T01:38:00.000+08:00

After two horrendous days without the usual kick obtained from the daily dose of World Cup football, in which the very thought of the long days between 12 July to August or the start of the new season of the club season in most of Europe, we have the quarter finals of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa underway. The last 8 of the competition is usually where the competition starts to get really interesting with teams having moved to the higher gears as well as now finally able to unleash the much conserved energy from the Group Stage and this is where the big boys are finally colliding. Although the downside is that from here onwards, the World Cup looks more like an Intercontinental Cup, a hybrid of the European Championship and the Copa America. Back to the topic at hand, the first match of the last 8 was between Holland and Brazil. This match was intriguing as it was a game of two halves, belonging to the respective teams. In the first half, the justification and the real mechanism of Dunga's much criticism set up of the team was shown. In the second half, it was the moment when a certain masterstroke decision made by the Holland manager Bert van Marwijk finally showed in the half which was totally Oranje in color. Thus, keeping that in mind, I will just go about writing this by dividing it into two, about Brazil, and about Holland according to each half owned by each of them.

So the first half belonged to Brazil, thus I will start from here. Dunga's team have been heavily criticized by pundits around the world including Brazil itself (although it owed greatly to Dunga's frosty relationship with the Brazilian media but that's another story) for being veered of so far from the track of traditional flashy, ultra attacking, samba football. However, in this World Cup 2010 so far, we have seen Brazil taking care of opponents so ruthlessly and efficiently (the Portugal game excluded as it was pretty much a dead rubber) from the resolute DPRK in the first match, to the strong Ivory Coast, and the last victim before this match was the attractive Chile. For a team in the very image of Dunga, just like how those pundits would say it, the actual results and performance of the team so far only contradict their arguments! The first half showed that Dunga has cleverly set up this team in two images and literally sliced this team into two, and then implement two totally different mindsets and ways to play the game. 5 players, from Julio Cesar the goalkeeper, the two center backs Juan and Lucio, as well as the two defensive midfielders (and this is where the critics draw their fuel from) Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva all have the defensive mindset.

Thus, for this part of the team, it is collectively a huge, rigid, and unforgiving block of ice in which the play is no frills, ultra defensive mentality (except for Lucio in his occasional forward gallops). Then we have the two wing backs Michel Bastos and Maicon, as well as Dani Alves for the right hand side as he played for the injured midfield Elano can all be considered as the flowing water. They take on the dual role of attacking and defending. While up front,players such as Kaka, Robinho, and Luis Fabiano (and Elano if fit) are all the raging fire in the team. All of them, especially Kaka and Robinho, are given a free role and also high creative freedom. They are also not required at all to track back and help to defend and also to regain possession so staunchingly when off the ball. That task I left to the first layer of the aforementioned rigid ice block of Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva (the two defensive midfielders). The raging fire area of the team is simply where the traditional samba football of Brazil is being executed, and that's why they are able to stay strong and solid at the back, while exhibiting loose and delightful attacking moves up front, unlike the all flashy attacking team of 2006 with their famous (or infamous) 4-2-4 formation with virtually a 2 men defense as the wing back go up so far alongside the strikers most of the times.

However, this Brazil team has one great weakness which would send them back all the way to Brazil in this encounter with Holland. Any raging fire can be doused, and water can be parched, while any solid bloc of ice can be melt or even exploded. To be more precise and to the point, this Brazil team is very prone to provocations and anything of that sort. Just recall the dead rubber Group G encounter against Portugal in which both teams were already in the last 16 and that a draw was the best result for both teams, we all remember that in the first half of that match, it almost turned into a fracas as Brazilian players, especially Felipe Melo (remember this name for the subsequent paragraphs) who was substituted even before half time to prevent further card collection. Things calmed down only in the second half and we know it ended 0-0. Thus, despite Brazil's domination in this very match in which Robinho scored after such a beautiful move as Felipe Melo, of all people sent a delightful through ball to Robinho to score the first goal at the 9th minute. Everyone surely felt that it was the first of so many to come in that match, especially with Brazil's continuing to dominate proceedings as they created more chances to make it 2-0 at least and pretty much seal the game for themselves. This failure to go beyond 1-0, an always dangerous scoreline to keep throughout the match, as well as the success of the Dutch tactics as will be explained later, contributed to their downfall.

As for Holland, they were the masters of the second half. In the actual fact, their dominance did not start after the half time team talk in their dressing room. A closer look at how their players were lined up prior to the game suggested that Holland had already won half of the match even before any ball was kicked. One doesn't have to look so far but just look at their wings. Let's start with the Dutch left wing. Usually, it's Rafael van der Vaart who is there, but he was not there.. No, Eljero Elia was not there too. Dirk Kuyt was there! Why? We want Elia, not that burly slow guy! But it was the first of two masterstrokes by the Dutch coach. The Brazilian right flank (Dutch's left) was populated by two of the most dangerous right wing backs in the world, Maicon and Dani Alves. Someone has to defend them, and certainly the ageing Giovanni van Bronckhorst cannot do it alone and he has to have a reliable cover. Kuyt was the man. He proved he was able to keep up with Maicon and Dani Alves, especially the former and even in the first half, we saw how in a few instances Kuyt was able to block off and/or hold them up physically so they they were not able to weave their magical feet.

Now, the second and most significant masterstroke by the Dutch. Robben again started ton the right wing. This time, there was a real purpose. Brazil actually has a huge weak link and that's the left back position, left wing as a whole to be precise. With the formation and the aforementioned system that Dunga is employing, the defensive duties on the left flank would fall to the inexperienced and rather shaky Michel Bastos and also Felipe Melo (who happened to be the left side of the two DMCs). Both of them had the task to contain Robben. But Robben was not going to make life so easy for both of them, and for Brazil as a whole to be precise. In the first half, precisely at the 34th minute, the Dutch won a corner, and Robben was about to take it. However, he tried a strange and peculiar trick in which he tried to catch the whole Brazil squad off guard by running and slightly touching the ball, and thus the corner kick was deemed to be taken while pretending that the corner had not been taken and that he pretended to left the corner duty to Sneijder. However, before the real purpose of that unfolded, Dani Alves was alert enough to realize that and closed the ball down before further damage was caused from that.

That's not the end for Robben. Actually, this had started from as early as the 2nd minute when he fell down easily and the match almost turned into a fracas when Brazilian players especially Robinho were visibly furious and unhappy. The second half was even worse. It was so visible that the Dutch attacks were to be concentrated solely on their right flank, and thus Robben was the focal point of their attack. Michel Bastos was on a yellow card (also because of trying to contain Robben) and he was clearly overwhelmed by the antics of Robben, his skills as well as the fact that he went down far too easily most of the time in the match. One such incident at the 51st minute resulted in the Dutch equalizer when a Dutch free kick was passed to Sneijder, and Sneijder launched a long lob which Julio Cesar decided to go off his line to catch the lob when he collided with Felipe Melo and the defender simply deflected the ball into the net, thus he scored an own goal.

By this time, there was an observable phenomenon I would dub the “Robben Effect” in which prior incidents involving the literally flying Dutchman caused Brazilian players to not dare to close Robben down in fear that he would fall down so easily again, the ref buys it and more damage to Brazil. Robben was increasingly getting freer and freer on the Dutch right flank. Dunga finally decided to take off the beleaguered Michel Bastos for Gilberto Melo, but the sub was no better than the man he replaced and it was useless. In the 67th minute, things got even worse for Brazil as the Dutch got a corner, and from a Kuyt flick on, Sneijder was totally unmarked and he had a free header in which he scored the winning goal from. For a player of Sneijder's height to score from that kind of header, anyone can be sure that no marking existed. At the 72nd minute, worse became worst as Robben fell down for the umpteenth time, and very easily. This left Felipe Melo so frustrated that he perhaps stupidly stamped the Dutchman repeatedly on his hamstring, and the Japanese referee had no choice but to give Felipe Melo a straight red card in which his face told the whole story as if he knew what was coming and he left the field immediately without any protesting antics. Towards the end of the match, the dutch were so dominating, and the Robben Effect so prevalent that even Mark van Bommel and Dirk Kuyt were able to waltz around the Brazil penalty area just like how Cristiano Ronaldo did and do to BPL and La Liga defenses respectively week in week out. Nevertheless, they failed to score the third goal but it was enough to knock Brazil out.

The Dutch will now face either Ghana or Uruguay in the semi-finals and credit to their manager Bert van Marwijk for the absolute masterstrokes as mentioned which totally showed that in chess terms, he was thinking 3 or even 10 moves ahead prior to the match when he set the team up for this match up. As for Brazil, after all those wins, their ultimate flaws and weaknesses of the teams (read: easily provoked, left back position) were so ruthlessly and perhaps cruelly exposed literally to the world. Dunga, or whoever is in charge of Brazil next must really put a lid on those weaknesses and rebuild again for the future, starting from the Copa America next year, and Brazilian media, as well as so many pundits around the world will now have plenty of ammunition to attack Dunga with, but life goes on, and for Brazil, this is just like the overly used and almost cliched French phrase, “C'est la Vie...”

Better ways to separate the inseparable

2010-07-01T15:54:00.000+08:00

After the heartbreaking and a rather undeserved loss and knocking out of the very last Asian representative in World Cup 2010, Japan, few if not most people might ask questions about the credibility of penalty shoot-outs in the World Cup or any other competitions to separate two teams that simply cannot and will not be separated, even after an arduous 120 minutes or 2 hours of intense football game. Many have labeled the penalty shoot-outs as a lottery, and also most out of this group have labeled the system as a backdoor or even a loophole ready to be exploited by a much weaker team to just defend and defend, or in Jose Mourinho's words to “park the team bus in front of the goal” throughout the aforementioned 120 minutes and to just simply try their luck in the penalty shoot-outs where they have much more chance of progressing at the expense of their stronger opponents compared to an open play of a football game. No matter the circumstances, when teams are separated after penalty shootouts, there are always a plethora of “what if” questions being asked non-stop in the aftermath of the game, and the losing team is always regarded as a victim, a team which doesn't deserve to be the losers. On the other hand, it's always the case that the winning team is always regarded as undeserving to have their victory clinched through the penalty shootout, especially if it involves the opposing player missing his kick while the goalkeeper has been completely beaten. From Roberto Baggio's miss in 1994 World Cup final, to David Trezeguet's miss in 2006 World Cup final, to the recent Yuichi Komano's miss against Paraguay which effectively the very kick that knocked the Japanese out, we have the aforementioned feelings to the winning and losing teams respectively.

Despite this fact, there doesn't seem to be any replacement to this seemingly flawed deciding system which is criticized and questioned by many within the footballing universe. There are actually three possible alternatives (which have surely been considered before but I am just contributing my two cents' worth on these alternative methods) to the penalty shoot-outs.

Firstly, if after 120 minutes both teams are still tied and can't be separated, why not just keep playing? Instead of stopping both teams that are trying ferociously to break one another down and to send them to the penalty shoot-outs? Just like the recent game between Paraguay and Japan, it was able to be seen that the faces of players from both teams showed that they want to keep getting on with the game, to just try to score that one goal that will surely separate the two teams at that point of time. Even more so for Japan at that time as they were about to take a free kick and the face of Yasuhito Endo, the man who was about to take the kick said it all, he was simply eager to launch the ball into the penalty area for the equally eager other Japanese players to try to score from.

While it is true that even if the game from the end of the 120th minute onward is using the discarded golden goal system, the game will drag on longer and potentially for a very long time. For whatever reasons (which it is beyond my scope to fathom), FIFA have made it clear that they don't want a football game, especially in the World Cup arena to be too long. In fact, that's one of the reasons put forward by FIFA to justify their firm stance against the implementation of various technologies in the matches such as the hawk-eye technology and others of the same mold. Thus, FIFA would not want it to drag matches too long and thus this method is already out even if it looks fair that teams fight it out to matter for how long, and how many 15 minutes half will be played, but the game will only end when someone scores, just like the good old days of extra time. But, who is to say that the old golden goal debate will not surface if this method is indeed implemented? It might even resurrect a long exorcised football debate ghost. Also, if this is implemented, players might even show their unhappiness as longer matches would mean further tiring their already spent bodies after 120 minutes of intense, high stakes football.

Still sticking with the “Keep playing” concept, perhaps we can also go back much further into the distant eras in which matches are played just within 90 minutes, and even during knockout stages, each match is still 90 minutes long at most. Well, I am not trying to say that we should go back to an era in which the “final round: of the world cup is a group, or a mini league to be precise, and the champions, runners up, and third placed teams are determined by the final position after the mini league has been played. In my humble opinion, a glance at that method is also not foolproof and flawed, and that's why the system is defunct as of now. What I am trying to say is actually also to resurrect another defunct concept, in which if a match is tied after 90 minutes, it's over, but it is to be replayed again another day, perhaps 3 days afterward to give the players adequate rest. However, it would be unfeasible in the World Cup as the schedule being run is very tight. Start too early, and it will clash with the tail end of the club season. Start too late and/or end much later, and it will clash with the clubs' pre-season preparations. In short, the schedule is tight, and I don't think such a replay can be carried out. Also, it will be unfair for the teams that have to replay a game, or even two games if the first replay also end with a draw. It means that even if the next round is delayed to facilitate these replays as well as including some days to again give the players adequate rest before the next round, this exhausted team will be in an extreme disadvantage over their opponents in the next round who have rested so long while waiting for the teams to slog it out in the replay(s). While many might argue that the lack of matches might also decrease their match fitness and sharpness, the strain from the plethora of replays will certainly put them in a much worse position than their well rested opponents. Again, it will even be more unfair than the current penalty shoot-outs system, and this idea is again out.

Lastly, as mentioned in the beginning, since many people have dubbed the penalties as a lottery system in which weak teams are able to exploit by just aiming to get to the “lottery” when they face a stronger team, why don't we, for once follow their advice? Why don't we just scrap the penalties and just put in its place a lottery system. Perhaps a coin toss system just like at the beginning of a match in which the two captains of the opposing teams alongside the assistant referees witness the referee determine who will get the chance to kick-off with a coin, and why not we determine the winning team after the arduous 120 minutes of football by using the same coin or even a similar system to the cup draws in the World Cup, FA Cup, or Champions League draws? Well, to keep things short and simple, it mgiht even spark a massive riot and even something resembling coup d'etat in FIFA if this goes ahead. Assuming that the coin and/or the drawing system is a fair one, each team, no matter how lop sided the match is, have a 50% chance of winning the match. It is just like gambling! Imagine this, Brazil vs Papua New Guinea match with a coin toss. Each team has a 50% chance of winning the match even though at the time of writing, Brazil and Papua New Guinea are the first and last team respectively in the FIFA rankings!

Thus, despite the lottery nature,and the seemingly unfair nature of the penalty shoot-outs. It seems that it is still the best way to go, even after dissecting the various alternative methods as above. Also, penalty shootouts can sometimes be a fair game, especially if a goalkeeper has performed admirably well in his reflexes in correctly determining ( I won't use the word “guess”) the direction of the shot from the opposing player and to save the shots, just like what Jerzy Dudek did in the famous 2005 Champions League final for Liverpool. Also, we have to realize that goalkeepers sometimes are an unheralded bunch. It's always about the strikers and/or attacking midfielders. Even defenders get their fair share of glorious moments as well as goals during matches. But goalkeepers? Even with plenty of saves in a match, they still won't be glorified so much. Thus, penalty shoot-outs does have a positive in which it is a huge chance for goalkeepers to shine in a match, and be an ultimate hero for their respective teams. Call it the best methods out of the worst, but still, it is there to stay, along with its ability to elevate our heart rate by oh so much!

Japan 0-0 Paraguay* World Cup 2010 Last 16

2010-06-30T11:13:00.000+08:00

First off, have we realized that in every single World Cup, when knockout stages start, especially from quarter finals onwards, the competition is more of a hybrid of Copa America and Euro, except for the occasional anomalies in which teams from Africa and/or Asia are able to go through to the quarter finals. Thus, in the long run the World Cup is more of an Intercontinental Cup rather than a World Cup. It is a World Cup only in the Group Stage, that's all there is to it as far as living up to the name of the competition is concerned. Besides, from the first World Cup in 1930, the winner of the competition has either been from South America or Europe. Last night, Japan had the chance to at least try to break that tradition, joining Ghana in the quarter finals, and to keep the “World Cup” feeling alive as the quarters would have been represented by 4 continents. They also had the hopes of the whole of Asia since they were the only one remaining in the competition after South Korea had been knocked out by Uruguay. They, along with Paraguay for this one, were also trying to get into the quarter finals for the very first time in their history.

Prior to the match, everyone kept on calling Keisuke Honda as Japan's best player, the hope for Japan, no player in Japan is of more important than him. Actually, I have been arguing ever since their 1-0 victory against Cameroon that the real hero, or heroes I should say is Japan's backline, to be precise the three pillars of Tulio, Yuki Abe, and Nakazawa. For Tulio, the Brazilian born defender was actually Japan's best player throughout Japan's stint in this World Cup overall as he excels both up front as well as at the back. He has always been Japan's greatest attacking threat when he roams forward, and especially in this match against Paraguay in which he always galloped forward whenever he has a chance. In other words, he played as a libero, a position long gone since the glory days of Franz Beckenbauer in 1970s. When he's at the back, he's ever so sturdy, thwarting everything that the oppoennts threw at him alongside his partners Yuki Abe and Nakazawa throughout the match. Without them, Japan would not even dreamed of getting this far in the tournament and also for last night's match, they might not even had the chance to have the penalty shoot-out. As for Honda, he was too isolated up front with little support. Whenever he has the ball, he had to hold the ball up long enough for the rest of Japanese players to go up and support him properly. With his relatively small frame as well as Paraguay's style of always closing down swiftly, he had no luxury nor time to wait for his team mates to arrive up front and support him.

Japan was also very fortunate in the 67th minute when Tulio, my choice of Japan's best player in the tournament, collided violently with his own goalkeeper. The stretcher was brought on the pitch, but fortunately for Japan, he was able to continue on to play the rest of the game. It was a crucial moment for Japan, had he stretchered off and replaced by someone else, Japan's backline would become fragile and their notable attacking threat at the other end would be nullified with his departure from the field. Despite trying their very best to score, Paraguay were not able to, and despite their attacks being improved considerably when the livewire Nelson Haedo Valdez joined the fray, they still weren't able to break the solid and resolute Japanese defense. Another player of note from Japan would be Daisuke Matsui, a player who came close n this match of scoring a scorcher from distance, but hit the bar. He always gives 110% for his country in each match, always seen chasing for every ball just like Argentina's Carlos Tevez. His commitment and work rate can be seen when he's substituted, his hair is always a mess at that time, I am pretty sure he covers quite a distance throughout his involvement in a match.

Since both teams were not able to break one another down as it seemed that both teams were so resolute as not to let go of a chance to make history by going to the quarter finals for the very first time, and thus, the scoreline was still tied at 0-0 even after two halves of extra time. The match inevitably went into the nerve-wracking penalty shoot out.

In the dramatic penalty shoot out, Paraguay managed to score all 5 of their kicks while Japan missed their third penalty kick by Yunichi Komano. I had a feeling that when he stepped up he might miss and he indeed hit the bar, although to be fair to him, he had beaten the goalkeeper. It is true that usually, managers would assign their best penalty takers for the last kick, but I don't think it is a good idea to do that as evident in last night's match as when Komano missed, and Paraguay managed to score all 5 of their kicks, the last kicker, (presumably Tamada) did not get a chance to take a penalty. In my opinion, had Honda and Tamada were the 4th and 5th kickers respectively, Japan might have stayed at least a bit longer, but this is certainly not the time to as what if questions. As cruel as it might be, this is the knockout stages, and one of the two opposing teams have to get out no matter how evenly matched they are throughout the 120 minutes. When there's a winner, there has to be a loser, and Japan was unfortunate enough to hold the latter mantle.

Congratulations to Paraguay for clinching a date with Spain in the quarter finals, time to celebrate their historic achievements, and juts like the commentator said, even if Spain awaits them in quarter finals, they don't really care, for now they want to celebrate their first ever qualification to the quarter finals of the World Cup. As for Japan, despite the defeat, they really showed up in this tournament, and they really fight till the end. Even though the heart-wrenching sight of the Japanese players, especially the inconsolable Komano at the end, Japan will rise up again just like the rising sun and try to beat the big boys again, starting with the 2011 Asian Cup! Ganbatte Nippon!

Holland 2-1 Slovakia World Cup 2010 Last 16

2010-06-29T11:03:00.000+08:00

A look at the firepower that Holland are blessed with, it was a shoe-in on paper that they would destroy the minnows Slovakia in which prior to the World Cup especially, an average fan would struggle to cite any member of their squad besides Marek Hamsik. On the other hand, a look at the front-line of Holland would make anybody shiver. Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben. These three, especially the last two, would bring fans to their club exploits last season in which both of them featured in the final of the Champions League after having such blistering runs in the competition as a whole. But, we have to remember that club form cannot be used as a yardstick, just like how many people mistakenly written off Argentina, as well as continuing to lament the exclusion of J. Zanetti and Cambiasso from Maradona's 23-man squad. Last night proved this as the whole witnessed a toothless Holland side taking on a determined Slovakian side.

To be frank, both goals from Holland were not scored with the exquisite passing and attacking movements just like what Germany were doing against England the day before in which I compared their movements just like the wicked maneuvers of UFOs in the sky. It is ironic to see that both rivals have swapped playing style with one another after all those days in history in which one has been criticizing the other for their respective playing style. Total Football vs Berlin Wall, that had been the case. Now, it's the other way round.

The first goal was scored only owing to Arjen Robben's flash of individual brilliance when an English style punt from a Dutch defender from the back was chased with his trademark lightning speed from the right flank, he then cut into the center of the pitch and launched a nice left footed strike from outside of the penalty area to give the Dutch the lead. Surely, together with the fact that they won all three of their group games, it further masked the fact that the Dutch attack has been toothless throughout the World Cup . As has been the case in this World Cup when one team takes the lead, they start to get bogged down right after the first goal has been scored. Perhaps it was the Dutch trying to “play safe” and just defend to the death, or perhaps it was Slovakia exhibiting some sort of sense of urgency, but nonetheless, the Dutch started to get pinned back and the Dutch were not able to string together nice passes, let alne emulating the German “UFO maneuvers”.

The second half was even worse with Slovakia continued to dominate the Dutch, with only Maarten Stekelenburg and a few last ditch tackles preventing the Slovaks, mainly through Robert Vittek from scoring an equalizer. However, the Dutch finally found the second goal, but again it was not through a masterful attacking move but it was due to an event bordering on the ridiculous. At around the 83rd minute, all Slovak defenders left their posts to surround the referee to protest a certain decision prior to that and while the Slovak were left without their defenders who were busy arguing, the play went on and the Dutch again sent a long ball from the back towards Dirk Kuyt who collected the ball, beat the onrushing and desperate goalkeeper, and sent a low cross towards the center for Wesley Sneijder to make it 2-0. Again the Dutch got lucky with their “kick and rush” style and again masked their inept attack. However, many people especially the Holland fans would argue that the introduction of the livewire Eljero Elia was the catalyst of the second goal, but still he replaced Robben not a defensive player and thus it could not be considered as a positive substitution.

The Slovaks were not interested to surrender meekly as they piled on strikers onto the pitch for te last few minutes of the game to at least get a consolation goal and perhaps to steal 2 goals to drag the match to extra time. However, they only managed to get one consolatory goal through Robert Vittek's penalty kick at the very last touch of the game. While it is true that the Dutch has progressed and no matter how the Dutch fans want to say that “winning is everything”, I am worrying over their prospects against Dunga's Brazilian anti-Samba Boys. They certainly are much stronger and much more efficient due to Dunga's aforementioned style, and they will certainly punish the Dutch's inept attack as well as a shaky defense. The Brazilians will certainly not leave it so late like the Slovaks to score a goal or two or even three.

Germany 4-1 England World Cup 2010 Last 16

2010-06-28T11:03:00.001+08:00

Prior to the conclusion of this match, every section of football media around the world heavily used World War I and II (mainly the latter) puns and references. Even yours truly wasn't able to resist such temptations and went on to make a rather direct comparison between World Cup 2010 and World War II. Now, after that result, nobody dares to make one, I am sure. Any attempts to even try to ask a “what if” questions regarding if World War II had ended the way last night's match did or conjure up a scenario of what would happen to the world in an alternate universe, I would just dare to go as far as say that for one, German would have been the international language, and a certain swastika logo would have been everywhere, and for the Asians, they would be speaking in Japanese. Although the sight of pretty girls in sailor uniforms would be a sight to behold, I still shudder to think of such scenarios. Even the Germans and Japanese themselves would shiver thinking about that. So I shall go mainstream and just throw anything related to wars out of the window.

I would love to argue that Germany's comprehensive win against England was not because of the fact that Germany is an all conquering team which is ready to even face an extra terrestrial team had a team UFO landed on earth and challenge us earthlings to a “friendly” match of football. I would love to think that it's all due to the propaganda of the English dominated soccer media of the world. However, it would not be fair to the England team, and especially for Frank Lampard who has managed to control the Jabulani so perfectly and were denied a goal or two because of the crossbar as well as a huge refereeing error in which the time and space seemed to be distorted and overlapped with a certain event in 1966. All of us, especially England fans are entitled to argue that the controversy involving Lampard was the absolute defining point of the match.

At the beginning of the match, Germany were already the much better team and they were 2-0 up within 30 minutes from Klose and Podolski. In both occasions, Germany showed that their “Teamgeist” was certainly there as their passing and off the ball movements were truly mesmerizing and out of this world. The attacks were so swift that they resembled the wicked maneuvers of UFOs that witnesses usually report upon seeing one or a group of them in the sky. However, perhaps it's the natural instinct of any team to shift a gear or two down after they have taken a lead, let alone a comfortable 2-0 lead or perhaps it was simply a sense of urgency for England, they started to strike back and threaten the German goal. They managed to pull one back at the 37th minute when Mathew Upson scored a towering header. Even after that they continued to attack and attack and one minute later was when the a huge controversy occurred. Lampard had shown with his direct free kicks and long shots that he was able to control the much derided Jabulani ball so perfectly and he was only denied from scoring by the crossbar. However, he was to be denied in a spectacular fashion. On a regular England attack, Lampard launched a perfect shot towards goal. What happened was more or less a repeat of the incident in the 1966 World Cup Final between Germany and England in which the England player Geoff Hurst struck the bar, and the ball bounced onto the ground, and bounce out of the goal. The linesman (Tofik Bakhramov, still famous among England fans) and the referee awarded the goal in which grainy replay from that time shows that it did not cross the line. Lampard's shot went pretty much the same way, the only difference was that the ball had entered the goal, in fact it was halfway into the goal, but amazingly it bounced out again and into the safe hands of the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

To be frank, the ball had entered the net. It should have been a goal. Everyone knows it. For example, I have just seen a joke picture about that goal, and according to that pic (which must have been made by a German), it wasn't a goal because in that pic, the goal line bent so much that it was still behind the ball. But even the person who created that funny photo should know deep in his heart that it was a goal as he simply had to bend the goal line so much so that the ball was still in front of the goal line. It was as obvious as that, that the goal was already scored. This will certainly re-ignite the famous/infamous technology debate in football. However, it is likely that things would go nowhere as FIFA president Sepp Blatter has made it clear that it is such controversies and intense debates after the game that according to him conjures up more passion within the game and makes the game more interesting. But I think something has to be done as referees might receive death threats due to this kind of controversies and might even be forced to retire early sch as what had happened to Andres Frisk just to name one. The long term effects might be dire such as the sport might have too little referees as young potential referees might be too scared to become one due to the controversies and what happened to their predecessors.

Back to the match, despite the controversy, England was still attacking Germany but soon, half time came to Germany's rescue. But nevertheless, the damage had been done to England and the complexion of the match was arguably to be so different had the goal was acknowledged.

Even in the second half, England still dominate and Lampard even hit the bar one more time from his free kick. However, as the half wore on and England committed more and more bodies forward, they were prone to any counterattack. Germany launched an extremely swift, yet another extra terrestrial UFO maneuvers passing from flank to flank led by the tiny but fast Mesut Ozil. It culminated in the young Thomas Muller finishing it beautifully to make it 3-1 for Germany. Just over three minutes later, yet another counterattack initiated by Ozil, another UFO like maneuvers, and again finished by Muller who got to the end of Ozil's cross. 4-1 and certainly England were down and out.

After this goal, Germany simply took off their feet from the pedal and were simply happy to just pass the ball around among them to loud cheers from the Germany fans and that's about it. Since Argentina won 3-1 against Mexico, the next match at the end of this week will be between Argentina and Germany. Yet another big and explosive match, a rematch of the 1990 World Cup final for Maradona and a rematch of 2006 Quarter finals for the players in which they lost to the Germans in the penalty shootout thanks to Lehmann's famous piece of paper containing the shooting habits of the Argentine players.

Had Lampard's goal was counted at that time, it was arguable that the match could have gone on to extra time or even penalties, or considering how England dominated, England might even have pulled off an amazing comeback win after being 2-0 down. But at least, at least for the Germans, the intense and long winded and rather futile debate about the 1966 incident has finally, finally been exorcised with the Lampard incident. Also, it was such a delight to see a great team chemistry in the German team, and that they have more superstars to rise to become world beaters such as Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Thomas Muller (who was voted man of the match last night). In 2006, it was players such as Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Lahm and others, now they have yet another set of emerging superstars. A really amazing team with marvelous regenerating prospects. I shudder to think how the new superstars would be like in 2014 but at the moment, Germany will face Argentina, and it will be another explosive match between these two great football nations.

Uruguay vs South Korea World Cup 2010 Last-16

2010-06-27T00:49:00.000+08:00

By now, many fans would certainly have asked, “what makes South Korea looks so damn good in football?”. Well, that question would generate a plethora of answers from ginseng, Korean people's hardworking ethos, taekwondo, and the list goes on and on and on. However, I have to move on from all those almost cliched answers to something simpler. They simply look really good because their opponents let them do become so. The recently concluded match was the substantiation of my analysis. During the last 10 minutes or so of this game, the commentator commented that South Korea was flirting with elimination as they trailed Uruguay 2-1 at that point of time. I think Uruguay should not have done what they did right after each time they take a lead against the Koreans.

Uruguay actually started in an attacking manner and they duly scored early, through a combination of movements from Edinson Cavani, Forlan, and for Luis Suarez to shoot at the empty goal as the South Korean goalkeeper was stranded due to Forlan's low cross prior to the goal. At this point of time, I had expected more goals from Uruguay. However, Uruguay surprisingly decided to sit back and defend. The only attacking move they made was futile long balls towards Diego Forlan up front. It was futile as the long balls were simply dealt with by the tall Korean defenders very easily and the fact that Uruguay concentrated on defending gave plenty of space and thus chances for the Koreans to start attacking their goals. Bad decision by Uruguay because of several reasons firstly, to beat the South Koreans, a team, especially a South American team which is generally known for their multi-barreled attacking options have to make use of this advantage and overwhelm the Koreans. Just like how Argentina managed to do against them from the moment Sergio Aguero entered the fray. The match ended 4-1 for Argentina. Secondly, South American teams are well known to be having their defense, especially their goalkeepers as their weak link. Trying to defend with a not so good defense but an overwhelming attacking threat is simply not a rational decision. Lastly, South Korea is a team full of confidence. They believe they are capable of beating anybody on earth or even outside of it. Thus, give them plenty of chances to make attacking moves like what Uruguay were doing, and it is only a matter of when, not if that they are going to score against your team.

It happened a the 67th minute when Lee Chung Yong scored to make it 1-1. Although it came from an indirect free kick, nevertheless their pressure throughout the match on Uruguay paid off really handsomely. Uruguay were shocked and started to alter their tactics again to an attacking mode. It was also raining very heavily by this point of time in the match. They continued to threaten to score and they did through a marvelous swerving, curling shot by Luis Suarez at the 80th minute when he launched a sweetly struck long shot that curled into the net beautifully. 2-1 for Uruguay. By this time, I thought Uruguay had learned their lessons and continued to attack throughout the game to really kill the game off, just like what Argentina were doing against South Korea in their Group B match. Turned out that Uruguay again switched to the defensive mode and also went as far as subbing the excellent and heroic Luis Suarez with 10 minutes left. Wrong move, South Korea, this time also augmented with a sense of urgency, duly attacked and 10 minutes were more than enough time for South Korea to even score 2 goals if Uruguay is to defend. They were really fortunate not to concede further and was able to hold on to book their ticket to the last 8 as well as sending the Koreans all the way home although South Koreans would argue that the referee blew his full time whistle when there were around 8 seconds left to play and when South Korea were attacking at full speed from the right flank, but that's it.

Despite many people being too occupied and overwhelmed with Suarez's heroics, it masks the fact that Uruguay were so close to being eliminated no thanks to their mistake not to utilize their superiority in the attacking department to overwhelm and choke their opponents to submission while masking their own frailties at the back, especially between the goalposts. Nevertheless, congratulations Uruguay, and credits to the South Koreans for their gallant efforts in the tournament!

Portugal 0-0 Brazil World Cup 2010 Group G

2010-06-26T11:06:00.001+08:00

Portugal vs Brazil. A glance at that fixture would make any football fans drool in excitement. Fanciful predictions started to fly around. How about a repeat of the 6-2 thrashing of Portugal by Brazil in the friendly match? How about a thrilling, heart stopping 4-4 draw? How about Cristiano Ronaldo rescuing his country in a 3-2 win by scoring a hat-trick? Wow, it must be some sort of a game! Even more so if the match is in the World Cup 2010! How can it get any bigger than that! A huge match on the grandaddy of them all of football. It has to be a cracker! But then again, we as fans tend to be carried away a bit too far to say the least. I consider myself to be an alert football fan. When I looked at this fixture being the third match of Group G, in which Brazil has secure qualification, and the probability of Portugal being knocked out was just merely a mathematical probability, I knew that both teams might not go above the proverbial second gear at most. But nevertheless, I didn't want to miss this game. Too big of a fixture to miss, what a huge mistake!

From the onset all the way to the end of the match, it was such a drab match that I yawned, my first in World Cup 2010. It was arguably the most boring match ever so far in this competition. I had jokingly predicted the score would be a 4-4 thrilling draw, but I came close only in the accumulated yellow cards, 4-3 to Portugal, all accrued in the first half. In the first half, the players seemed to be carried away themselves as throughout the first half, tackles started to fly off wildly and both set of players started to accumulate yellow cards. Temper also flared, between Luis Fabiano and Pepe, as well as Felipe Melo who was clearly so uncomfortable and his temperament boiling, Dunga decided to pull him off to prevent any unnecessary events (read: red card)

However, it seemed that in both dressing rooms of Portugal and Brazil, both Carlos Queiroz and Dunga said the same thing to their respective set of players. Basically, what must have been said in the two dressing rooms was that, “Take it easy guys... Come on, we only need a draw to secure 100% qualification for both of us”

The second half started in a very drab manner. Throughout the second half, both teams were only happy to pass the ball around the field sideways, and hold up the ball so much, and when one team is with the ball and holding it up, the other did not close down the other team at all. When any of the players got somewhere near the penalty area, they just launched blind shots without taking specific aim and/or without trying to breach the opponents' defense further and score from a closer distance. When the fourth official signaled for the 5 minutes of injury time to be played, I really wished the match to end at that point of time. I wanted to switch my TV off in disgust but decided against it as sometimes things go against me and had I switched off the TV, there might have been 2-3 spectacular goals for all I care.

It was such a disappointing end to Group G, but to be expected. Even after the alteration of rules since that 1982 “Anchluss in Gijon” incident such that the third match of the group stages are played simultaneously, it could not be helped that the last matches are always anomolous. However, let's not dwell on the group stage, and start looking forward to the next match of both teams in the last 16. Brazil vs Chile, and also the derby of Iberian Peninsula between Spain and Portugal! Mouth watering matches to come!

Intertwining of Football, History, and Reality

2010-06-25T12:22:00.000+08:00

Last night's 3-2 victory of Slovakia over defending champions Italy should provide a lot of writing materials for any football writers around the world, let alone a passionate budding football writer like me. However, I faced some sort of the dreaded writer's block today and I simply couldn't muster any inspiration to write a good piece about yesterday's match. Despite that slight hindrance, finally I received some sort of salvation. It is well known throughout my social circle that besides football, I also have an intense passion in history, despite many people dismissing it as a dead subject, studying about some dead guys killing other dead guys in dead places and in dead eras. Nevertheless, now I am able to at least draw a certain parallel of football with history. The salvation came from someone I did not expect to give me such a huge inspiration (thanks Niwde! I appreciate it). This guy simply sent me one solid sentence about a certain parallel between the World Cup 2010 so far with the World War II. I think I really have many things to say about that as well as to expand that aforementioned solid sentence.

Let us first take a look at the European theater. We have France who have just been knocked out from the competition so meekly and shamefully. They also surrendered quite early to the Nazis during the World War II initially before USA's landing in Normandy, but that's for much much later as we will see when we get to that. We also have Italy who also surrendered tamely and also shamefully. In World War II, especially in the 1940s even before Hitler's fall, Mussolini's Italy was already in tatters, a series of mismanagement and internal strife culminated in Mussolini being ousted from the Prime Minister post as well as arrest and even with Hitler's assistance to bring him back by rescuing him from prison in the famous (or infamous) Operation Eiche, and also by establishing an Italian Nazi Puppet State in the name of Italian Social Republic, the puppet state soon collapsed as well. As for Holland who have just started the World Cup brilliantly by winning all of their three Group matches so far, it is just like the full glory of the Dutch domination with their array of colonies spanning from the West Indies (Suriname) to the East Indies (Indonesia).

Still in Europe, we also have Germany. In the World Cup, Germany started in a really convincing manner by beating Australia 4-0, but then suffered a setback against an Eastern European nation Serbia as they lost 1-0 and ended the match with 10 men. But then, they regained some footing by defeating Ghana 1-0. In World War II, we know that Germany also started in a blistering fashion as they annexed countries in Europe as such speed that people simply felt that the whole world might soon be a Nazi world. However, a very big mistake in Hitler's part by trying to invade Soviet Union by arriving there in a cold, harsh Eastern Europe winter. They simply lost a lot of men and simply failed big time, having to retreat shamefully. However, around the 1940s, Germany also launched an African campaign with their Afrika corps. We also have England, who are totally unconvincing so far and only with USA's sudden victory at the very last minute, that England managed to get some footing to go through to the last 16. In World War II, the UK simply could not fend off Germany alone and son they formed an alliance (Allies) with the likes of USA to fend off Germany's threat. How fitting that Germany and England are to meet in the last 16, just like in the World War II in which they traded blows such as when Germany launched their blitzkrieg campaigns against the UK, and the UK launching its own strategic bombings all over Germany later on.

Moving on to the North America. As I have mentioned so many times above, the USA only stood up and be counted at the last minute. In this World Cup, they simply drew 2 games, before winning against Algeria in the very last minute to win 1-0 and book their ticket to the last 16. In the World War II, the USA simply stayed neutral for most of the duration of the war, until Pearl Harbor was heavily bombed by the Japanese in 1941 then the USA decided to join the World War at the very last minute and they finally do so with a blazing trail at that.

Moving on to Asia, we have Japan who have just booked their ticket to the last 16 by beating Denmark. This is also quite parallel with the Japanese Empire in World War II when they really threatened to conquer the whole of Asia and was truly renowned as a world power at that time. As for Korea, their form in the World Cup 2010 is more parallel to the Korean War, which is in 1953, so I am not going to really delve into this in detail as I have to stick with World War II, and besides, the Korean issue is a sensitive issue at this time.

It is in Africa that the similarities with World War II really struck. During this time, Africa were only the Europeans' toys. They were simply colonies, partitioned in the way that the Europeans wanted to do and they were simply in chaos, under their European masters. Sadly, this is also the case in World War II. Just look at the six African team managers. Besides Algeria which is managed by Sabah Raadane, the rest are managed by European managers. Also, under their European managers, the African teams simply lose their footing so much that one by one dropped like flies when a lot is expected from them considering the resources that they have, especially Ivory Coast. For now, only Ghana managed to go through to the last 16 by the skin of their teeth. Even then they are not expected to go through further as USA lies in wait. This is the same as in reality. Africa is continuing to be pincered by poverty and chaos despite the obvious potential and the abundance of natural resources that they have.

The similarities of the World Cup and the real world is so uncanny that I am starting to shiver. Football is supposed to be so different, so separated with real life, with history and even more so politics. But it seems that it can't be helped that football is after all part of those reality however grim, and I could only say one thing, reality bites. OUCH!

England vs Germany. It has to happen, is it?

2010-06-24T10:28:00.000+08:00

If fate is a person, he would be a very funny guy. I mean, picture this situation. You take a stroll around the neighborhood where you are living, then at one point, you meet someone that you know. I know people would classify such unplanned meetings as mere coincidences or pleasant surprise, but none would go as far as classifying it as fate. But picture this, it's quite funny how one could meet one another at that exact same point of time, and both of these guys were at the exact same location without any prior planning? I guess it's safe to say that fate plays a part, at least something resembling that. Well, I know blabbering about that is out of sync with the subject/title, and thus before psychiatrists out there or wannabes start diagnosing me with ADHD or anything of that sort, I'll delve into the topic at hand right away.

Yesterday was when the teams from Group C and Group D in World Cup 2010 were determined whether they continue on fighting in the last 16 of the competition, or simply have to prepare for an early flight back home. Amazingly, events clicked in such a way in the four matches between the two groups that the match between England and Germany was ensured. First up in Group C. With their newly acquired Italian Catenaccio skills, England managed to snatch a 1-0 win over Slovenia while the USA, amazingly scored a last minute goal against Algeria and also won 1-0. This put the USA on top of the group due to goal difference. England finished second in the group. The first part of the events has been fulfilled. In Group D, it was even more dramatic. Germany managed to yet snatch 1-0 win against a fighting Ghana side while in the other match, Serbia lost 2-1 to Australia with a very late equalizer chalked off for offside. This ensured Germany came on top while Ghana go through as the group's runners up. Thus, it means that Germany will meet England in the last 16. What a mouth watering prospect of a match, despite the fact that goals come at a premium in this World Cup. As for Ghana, again fate simply dictated that there have to be at least one African representative remaining past the Group Stages, and the dramatic 2-1 Australia vs Serbia match set that up nicely.

The animosity between England and Germany go a very long way, in football or outside of it. Those inclined in history would start picturing the intense and deadly trench warfare in World War I between the two sides, the “Christmas Truce” and all. Also, in World War II in which the Third Reich bombarded London in a Blitzkrieg campaign, as well as Britain and its Allies strike-back in their own strategic bombing campaigns against Germany. In football, many fans would evoke memories from 1966 when England won its first and so far only World Cup title on home soil by defeating the then West Germany in a very controversial nature especially due to Geoff Hurst's goal which did not cross the line. Fans from both sides are still debating about that goal. Moving forward, in 2002, English fans would keep on reminding their German counterparts about how they thrashed Germany 5-1 in Munich. Those events are basically those I could remember spontaneously at the moment, and there might well be even more animosity between these two nations.

No one had planned this meeting, at least not so early in the competition as most if not every fan had predicted England and Germany finishing top of their respective groups. Even if after two matches in these groups all 4 teams in the respective groups were still able to go through, after all that drama, there wasn't to be a twist of fate. England vs Germany, always a destiny to happen in this World Cup. Now, it's time for fans all over the world, not only English and German fans to start licking their lips over the prospects of this match which is sure to be as explosive as the trench warfare and the Blitzkrieg, but we are all confident that there will be the kind of fair play involved such as the “Christmas Truce” in the aforementioned trench warfare between these two great nations.

South Africa 2-1 France World Cup 2010 Group A

2010-06-23T01:20:00.001+08:00

After all those turmoils surrounding the beleaguered French team, finally they are put out of their misery by a gallant South African side, the host nation, who huffed and puffed their way trying to extract every single ounce of their energy in trying to, no matter how slim their chances are, to avoid the unwanted tag of the first host nation to be knocked out in the Group Stage. While the French, at least in the first half only wanted this match to be done and over with. However, both teams simply crashed out from the Group Stage despite showing some form of fighting spirit throughout the match.

For South Africa, they seemed to go on course to defeat France by at least 3 goals, the very result they need to maintain their hope, however small to advance to the last 16. They stormed to a 2 goal lead by the end of the first half, but subsequently, they were not able to make the most of the chances that the French generously gave them. Despite South Africa surely gathering lots of praises from all directions after their victory which clearly wasn't enough, I have to say that they are really not good enough as they were really profligate in front of the goal, with Mphela the main culprit. Had all of their chances resulted in goals, they would have probably thrashed France 5-0 at least and considering the 1-0 victory of Uruguay over Mexico, South Africa would have ousted the Mexicans and go through to the last 16. Too bad they didn't have what it takes to convert all those chances into goals. The way they wasted chances also gave the French a chance to make a comeback, despite having to play with 10 men most of the match. In any case, despite being a sad day for South Africa as they become the first nation to fail to qualify past the Group Stage, they at least gave their fans something to cheer about as they have defeated France, a world class team nonetheless despite being an embodiment of problems at the moment.

As for France, they looked totally out by the end of the first half. When Yoann Gourcuff was sent off in the 27th minute, it seemed all over for the French. Their players were visibly dejected and looked lost. The second goal which they conceded even reminded me of one of the goals that Portugal scored against the mysteriously switched off DPRK side in the second half of that match. Only the aforementioned wastefulness of South African strikers gave them an impetus to strike back and they did through Florent Malouda. An interesting incident also happened at around 64th minute when Henry received a ball on the left flank, the ball hit his hand, and the ref spotted the handball. Interestingly, he was on the same flank during that fateful incident in the match against Republic of Ireland in the playoffs. Not sure if he deliberately did it, but if he really does, then he has no shame as the incident against Ireland really tarnished his reputation and he's under intense scrutiny. But nevertheless, France showed the will to comeback when Malouda scored their consolation goal at the 69th minute. However, no further goal was scored, and that's the final scoreline, 2-1 for the host nation.

It was such a case of “what ifs” for South Africa, as the Uruguay vs Mexico match did not end in a draw as expected, and had they been more prolific in their finishing, they would be in the second round now. But too bad, sometimes things don't go your way, and that's exactly what South Africa is experiencing now. In any case, it has been a commendable performances by the host nation, and their performance and experience over the three games and the hosting of this tournament itself will go a long way in shaping the future for the South African football. As for France, this is the end of an era full of turmoil. An era supposed to have ended long ago. But finally it has ended. Now, they only have to look forward to the upcoming Laurent Blanc era and simply just try to forget the forgettable reign of Raymond Domenech, the most hated man in France at the moment.

Chile 1-0 Suisse World Cup 2010 Group H

2010-06-22T00:39:00.000+08:00

This match was a truly explosive match from the beginning all the way to the end. Plenty of talking points in this match such that I don't even know where to start. Simply amazing, adrenaline pumping match we have just been fortunate enough to witness. I'll start with the breakdown of the two teams fighting it out today at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. This match could be described as a match between a thesis and an anti-thesis. I would describe the Chilean team as the lighter version as the Arsenal team. Lighter at the back that is as this Chilean team doesn't have the kind of defense like what Arsene Wenger's boys are having with bulky guys at the back such as Gallas, Vermaelen, and Sagna. Chile also play in the same way as Arsenal in which they frustrate fans a lot. They dominate a match thoroughly, stringing a lot of beautiful and quick passes but there's one thing lacking from all those moves, goals. They are also very susceptible at the back. On the other hand, their opponents Suisse is a different kind of team altogether. Just look at the Suisse squad form Diego Benaglio, the goalkeeper, all the way to Blaise Nkufo the striker. Every single one of the Swiss player has one thing in common, that they are tall, big, bulky, an muscular. They are like a huge wall. They are extremely secure at the back, that's one thing for sure.

This match is a very crucial match in Group H, especially so for Chile. If they lose this match or being held to a draw, they will be in a real danger of not qualifying to the last 16 as the Swiss will be facing Honduras next while Chile will be facing Spain, who are poised to win their upcoming match against minnows Honduras. The match started in a really explosive fashion with Chile showing their hot and spicy brand of football with their extremely high octane style of play. The Swiss also kept up the tempo as they didn't want to be outdone by the South Americans. The first half an hour was a delight to watch and I dare say that it was even played in a faster tempo than the fabled high octane English Premier League games. However, the referee for this match was one who will not hesitate to blow his whistle and brandish plenty of cards and after players from both sides were booked for silly and simple reasons, The Swiss were outraged when Valon Behrami was sent off at the 30th minute when he elbowed two Chilean players in a row, even when it seemed that the Chilean players fell a bit too easily, but it happens all the time and even the Swiss resorted to this kind of dark arts of the game later on in the match. When the red card was brandished, many fans would have recalled the mighty collapse of Nigeria and Germany when one of their players was red carded. However, it was not to be as Suisse is a mighty defensive team and one player less in the team won't have a significant effect on their defensive wall play.

From this moment onwards, it was all Chilean attack, and that's when the way they play simply has the aura of Arsenal behind it. It was simply vintage Arsenal, a typical way of Arsenal playing the beautiful game. Graceful attacking football, but no finishing and thus no goal to show their dominance in the game, but it was largely thanks to the extreme solidity of the Swiss defense. The aforementioned incident about the Swiss employing some dark arts of the game happened at the 60th minute when there was an altercation between the two sets of players when the Swiss defender von Bergen showed his unprofessional side by falling theatrically onto the ground to get a Chilean player booked or even sent off. However, Chile was finally rewarded (with a slice of good fortune and a controversy) for their plentiful shots on goal when their substitute attacker Paredes was in an offside position to receive a through pass and then he crossed it for Mark Gonzalez to get a free header and head it past Diego Benaglio to finally bring the Swiss wall down. Firstly, Mark Gonzalez is not a player known for his heading ability. Secondly, the Swiss defense was non-existent as the CSKA Moscow player had a free header, and thirdly, the header bounced into the net instead of going over the bar.

However, the Swiss resembled Australia when they played against Ghana when Suisse managed to threaten the Chilean goal so many times at the closing minutes of the game, growing in confidence as Chile continued to miss chances after chances to make it 2-0 and totally kill off the game. However, they held on and Chile has won the game.

What's so interesting about Group H is that it's still pretty much very open. Assuming that Spain beat Honduras as expected in the upcoming match for today and the Swiss also beating Honduras in their penultimate game in the group, and then Chile lose to Spain in their penultimate game in the Group, then the three teams barring Honduras will be left with 6 points and goal difference will play a role in determining which team out of the three will have to fly back home early. Thus, despite two wins out of two, Marcelo Bielsa's boys still have an awful load of work to do when they face Spain. No matter what, they have to win. Things will get very complicated if Suisse and Spain manage to thrash Honduras heavily and all their efforts in winning their first two games in a row will all be wasted if Honduras loses all of their games, and Spain beat Chile in the last game. Basically, this Group turns out to be the most interesting group, even more open than the supposedly Group of Death of the tournament, Group G which has pretty much been concluded on which teams will be knocked out.

Portugal 7-0 DPR Korea World Cup 2010 Group G

2010-06-21T21:25:00.000+08:00

It was simply a sickening second half of this match, simply abominable I almost shed some tears despite the fact that I am not a citizen of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Prior to the match, it was hoped and expected by neutrals as well as myself that this match would bring more surprises and drama especially after witnessing New Zealand's best ever football result ever against Italy yesterday, after Portugal's rather insipid 0-0 draw against Cote d'Ivoire after DPRK's gallant defeat against Brazil. It was simply too outrageous and too sad for the Asian side's brave and commendable journey in World Cup 2010. I, for one still could not fathom what really happened at half time in the DPRK dressing room. The Portuguese as well as everyone who supports them will staunchly argue that it was the sheer management expertize of Carlos Queiroz which inspired them to this massive victory which consigned the East Asian side to an early flight home. I am as sure as hell that something serious happened in the DPRK dressing room. But whether it was a similar case to what Tottenham's players experienced in the last match of 2005-06 season against West Ham, or whether it was because they received a stern telling off by the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il through video call or even a surprise appearance of the reclusive leader, we will not know, at least not now. One thing for sure, something abnormal was going on. The DPRK team that turned up at the start of the second half simply were not the same players as those playing in the first half.

To be fair to the Portuguese, they really played well by dominating the match. Let's not count the second half as the DPRK were simply not playing at all. They totally had no spirit at all throughout the second half and it was as good as a walkover for the Portugal as far as the second half is concerned. N the first half, Portugal really played well by dominating but the gallant Korean players simply held their line firmly, not letting their opponents to score against them. They even created quite a few chances at the other end but had no space nor time to execute a proper finish, not with their sole hope Jong Tae-Se totally shackled by Ricardo Carvalho, a huge rock in the Portugal defense. Actually, the first goal of the match was preceded by a controversial incident in which at the 27th minute, DPRK's Hong Yong-Jo was wrongly accused of offside when he was totally onside, and from the resulting free kick, Portugal scored the first goal, and arguably the killer goal of the match throught Raul Meireles. Even after the goal, all the way to the end of the first half, Portugal were not able to find the second goal, then it was half time. DPRK were still on with every chance to set up a remarkable comeback in the second half. However, the second half was truly horrible as mentioned at the beginning and I won't describe all the goals in detail as it is simply not worth it. Every goal was just like the Portuguese national team playing against an Under-12 side. It was that bad, and I am not even joking. The goals came from Miguel, Simao, H. Almeida and Tiago (from 50th to 59th minute) and from another spell of goals scored in quick succession by Liedson, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tiago again from 80th to 87th minute.

This horrible defeat means that Portugal's last match against Brazil will be a cracker in determining which team finish at the top of the group or go through as runners-up although whether Portugal will try to win depends on Spain's performance in their two games against Honduras and Chile as both teams are likely to try their best to avoid Spain in the last 16. Basically, Portugal are 100% through to the last 16 as even if they lose against Brazil, with the massive goal difference separating Portugal and Ivory Coast, the Ivorians will need to win against DPRK by at least a whopping 9 goals. Even with the abominable performance in the second half, I am sure DPRK will want to save their faces, redeem themselves, and to go out from the World Cup with a bang by getting at least a point. Simply horrible, whatever happened at half time to the DPRK players must be serious and there's no joke at all.

Italy 1-1 New Zealand World Cup 2010 Group F

2010-06-21T00:38:00.000+08:00

Moving on from the previous match which had little or no controversy and drama if there was any, now it's time for the ultimate David vs Goliath match so far. Alright, not many people support Italy (even some Italian guys that I know of support countries such as Spain). To be frank, I am also not a fan of Italy, no, not the food, not the country, not the team, but the selection policy of Marcelo Lippi. Alright, he has contributed a hell lot for Italian football, culminating in his World Cup victory in 2006. However, I am not a big fan of the way he has been selecting the players for gli Azzuri. Besides preferring to choose players who are 30 and older, he also chooses players on a like and dislike basis at a very personal level such that he refuses to call up absolutely able players such as Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli just to name two just because he does not like them. But nevertheless, Italy is a very big name in the footballing universe, the defending champions in this World Cup, and thus they are the Goliath. Meanwhile, New Zealand is much more known for the All Blacks than the All Whites who are in the World Cup finals arguably because of Australia decided that the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) is a greener pasture for them. This is their first appearance in World Cup finals since their maiden appearance in 1982 and they have just collected their first point, along with the first goal in the previous match against Slovakia. To cut the long story short, they are the David.

On paper, this match was a shoe-in for Italy's obvious victory. Prior to the match, I was able to see many people dishing out bold predictions to the tune of 5-0 to Italy, which also happened prior to the match between Germany vs Serbia not so long ago, and we know how that match turned out. Thus, I wasn't drawn into that false image of a football game seemingly being concluded on paper and I knew something great is going to happen. Besides, just smarting from the lack of drama and controversy from the Slovakia vs Paraguay match, I was longing for more drama, more surprises, more controversy. Besides, I won't be ashamed to admit that I am pretty much an underdog guy, so yeah. Basically, I got everything that I wished for prior to the match, and the match turned out to be one hell of a complete package of whatever I had wished for as mentioned.

The match started with a surprise, the first thing that I wished for. New Zealand scored after only 6 minutes through their best attacking player Shane Smeltz, albeit a controversial one as he was in an offside position when he latched on to a lobbing free kick. Italy, who had started the match like someone who is jarred from a very deep REM sleep, suddenly felt a sense of urgency and started to dominate the match. However, another controversy as from here on (although the second half is not as bad as the first), the Italian players seem to fall down rather “very very easily” with the slightest of nudges bringing them down onto the pitch. Even if they have fouled an NZ player, they would just tumble down themselves to give the illusion that it was not a foul, but a crashing incident. At the 27th minute, Italy got what they want after Daniele de Rossi fell down quite easily in the penalty area, taking advantage of the fact that his shirt was grabbed moments earlier and V. Iaquinta equalized from the resulting penalty shot.

Besides both goals of the match, the first half also saw some incidents relating to the debates that have been raging about the Jabulani match ball. The first incident was when during Riccardo Montolivo's completely missed long range shot, the ball suddenly swerved wickedly mid flight and managed to clip the post, nearly entering the net. Another one was at the 45th minute, when de Rossi's long shot changed direction wickedly in mid air, and the NZ goalkeeper Mark Paston spilled it when he tried to parry it.

The second half also had its fair share of drama especially in the latter part of the game. Throughout this half, Italy also continued to dominate the game and threatened the New Zealand goal but they were not able to find a way through to score the winning goal mainly because of the great performance by the Kiwis' goalkeeper Mark Paston who made marvelous saves to deny Italy. He's my personal choice for the man of the match for this game. New Zealand also gathered confidence little by little as time passed and they even came close through substitute C. Wood at the 82nd minute, which would be a historical day for New Zealand as a whole if that goal had gone in! As an underdog guy, the last 10 minutes of the game (ie. From 85th minute all the way to the end of the 4 minutes injury time) seemed to have been an eternity and also a passionate period of time such that just like during the first NZ game against Slovakia, I felt like what a New Zealander would have felt during the aforementioned 10 minutes period. Ultimately, New Zealand held on despite memories from a certain Man Utd 4-3 Man City match last season started to haunt me but ultimately, that kind of silly capitulation didn't happen to the Kiwis despite the referee prolonged the injury time for a bit at the end of the 94th minute. Truly a historical day for the Kiwis as they managed to hold the defending champions of the World Cup 1-1 and they managed to match the Italians in all departments as they even came close to winning this one to boot!

New Zealand could etch even more history and spring even more surprises by qualifying to the last 16 by defeating Paraguay, as unlikely as it sounds, but don't write off the Kiwis just yet before the final whistle of that match has been blown. As for Italy, this draw is not as fatal as it seems (as far as their World Cup chances is concerned) as they only need to win against Slovakia in their final game in Group F regardless of what happens in the New Zealand match. In any case, just for this night at least, the All Whites of New Zealand have stolen the good spotlights from their more illustrious All Blacks rugby team counterpart!

Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay World Cup 2010 Group F

2010-06-20T21:30:00.000+08:00

On paper, Paraguay have just secured their qualification to the last 16 with this rather one sided victory over the hapless Slovakia in the sparsely filled Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein who is also, on paper, edging ever closer to an early flight home. Why on paper? It is because although there is still one match to go in Group F, Paraguay's next match will be against minnows New Zealand while Slovakia's next match will be against the defending champions Italy. Again, while these matches are seemingly to have been concluded on paper, football matches are not won on paper and there could still be more surprises in store for all of us on the last match-day of Group F. To be frank, this match was devoid of all the drama, the goal flood, the excitement that have been evident in the past few days. To emphasize on the lack of exciting points to take note of, this match was even devoid of any debates to be raised pertaining to the much maligned Jabulani match ball.

From the onset, this match was thoroughly dominated by Paraguay to prove the gulf of class between the Eastern European side and the Latin American flavor brought all the way from South America to this match. It seems that the reason why Slovakia looked half decent in the match against New Zealand (at least before the last minute Kiwi goal) was because of the fact that their opponents were the All Whites, that's all. The dominance shown in ust 27 minutes when Paraguay took the lead through H. Vera with a nice shot lobbed into the net when he was closed down by two Slovakian defenders. Even though just like any teams in this World Cup that is a goal down, Slovakia started to show some sense of urgency and started to attack Paraguay but none of those attacks was incisive and their attacking spells were only up to the end of the first half.

The second half started when the commentator reminded us that the stadium floodlights were switched on despite the fact that the sky was very bright. I am not sure myself on what's the deal with the switched on floodlights. Was it to dispel any myths about Africa being short on uninterrupted electrical supply? Or was it simply the standard operating procedure? Or was it perhaps because of a precautionary measure in anticipation of an unpredictable weather in this era of Global Warming? Who knows?

What's interesting about the way the Paraguayans play is that when the Slovaks were in possession, the Paraguay players simply closed them down no matter where they are and even the Slovak goalkeeper was not spared as we were able to see a Tevez like closing down on the Slovak goalkeeper Mucha. Basically, the Slovaks were not allowed to be with the ball for more than 2-3 seconds at most before being dispossessed by the extremely strong Paraguayan players as this style of play, especially throughout the match as this style requires a very strong stamina.

In a game devoid of any notable points, Paraguay finally managed to have something to take note of as they scored the second and arguably the proverbial killer goal at the 85th minute which put the result of the game beyond doubt. Although Slovakia managed to test the Paraguayan goalkeeper for the first and only time in the match in the very last minute of the stoppage time when Robert Vittek had his long range shot saved.

As mentioned at the beginning in the first paragraph, Paraguay will face New Zealand next which they are expected to defeat to secure their spot in the last 16, while Slovakia will be facing a very tough test against Italy, still a top team despite being much criticized for their average age and great players criminally excluded from the squad. However, don't think Group F has been settled, as I am pretty damn sure that there will be more surprises, starting from the upcoming match between Italy and New Zealand.

Ghana 1-1 Australia World Cup 2010 Group D

2010-06-20T00:38:00.000+08:00

Prior to this entertaining match, I have to admit that I was too carried away by Ghana's 1-0 victory against Serbia in their first match as well as Australia's 4-0 collapse against Germany in which I should not have been like that at all. This culminated when a family member (who is not well versed in football at all) asked me, “What's so good about Ghana? Ghana is bad!”. Well, I strongly felt that Ghana is a strong team, due to the aforementioned illusion from the first games, as well as a fond memory of Ghana gloriously defeating Czech Republic back in 2006 World Cup in which I still remember what Stephen Appiah had said in his interview after that victory. So there was a conflict between the “I and me” in my mind as I wanted to answer him that Ghana is very strong while my subconscious football instinct whispered me otherwise. Thus, I settled by answering him that “At the very least, Ghana is much stronger than a certain country” (sorry but I don't wish to name that country, but that answer will create a definite impression to anyone let alone that family member of mine that Ghana is a strong team). I should have known better that Ghana is after all not that great, especially so in attack.

In this match, the Jabulani debate once again rears its ugly head once again. After a few days of relative quiet about this, Jabulani simply refuses to let go of the microscopic attention as well as the massive spotlights on it. It seems that it is trying its best to obtain the World Cup 2010 golden ball and even more ambitiously, it seems intent on winning this year's TIME Person of the Year. Australia started the match with technically no striker at all since the one leading their attack was Harry Kewell whose natural position is not a striker, let alone a targetman. Joachim Low, the Germany manager was also seen in the stands seemingly to scout on Ghana, their next opponents. Australia started attacking aggressively, seemingly desperate to banish all those criticisms and condemnations directed to them no thanks to their heavy 4-0 defeat against Germany. The aforementioned Jabulani debate erupted again when the Aussies scored after only ten minutes of play. The Ghanaian keeper Richard Kingson becomes the next goalkeeper to spill a long range shot, this time from Mark Bresciano's direct free kick and Brett Holman was only too happy to pounce onto the rebound and score to give Australia the 1-0 lead. As mentioned previously, Jabulani seems not ready to give up the spotlight, isn't it? A ball who has plenty of balls. Good pun, no?

Sense of urgency for Ghana, but they did not seem to be incisive in their attacks against the Aussies. (A chronic illness in this Ghanaian squad which I realized only much much later in the game). However, first major drama in the game as well as a major controversy in this match. At the 23rd minute, Ghana launched a long shot from outside of the penalty area which was destined to be into the net, but Harry Kewell was at the right hand post and he simply used his chest to keep the ball out. However, the ball simply bounced along his body and hit his right arm in the process before going out. The Italian referee Roberto Rosetti simply treated it as a deliberate handball to prevent a clear goalscoring opportunity and he promptly dished out a red card for Kewell and thus Australia have 2 sending offs in a row, and Ghana was awarded a penalty kick due to handball, just like the previous match against Serbia. Also, just like that match, Asamoah Gyan sent Mark Schwarzer the wrong way to score with his ice cool nerves from the spot. 2 out of 2 for Gyan from the spot. 1-1. So far, Nigeria and Germany have collapsed due to a sending off, and had that happened to Australia and had they lost heavily to Australia, it would have served the Aussies nothing more than intensifying their Italophobia as World Cup 2006 is still fresh in their minds.

The second half of the match simply saw the increasing intensity of the attacks of both teams, especially Australia. Surprise surprise. Despite having one less man than the Ghanaians, the Australians didn't show any signs of hindrance to their game let alone the potential collapse. In fact, the Australians were trying to gun down a victory, basically trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as they brought on two strikers from their bench on the 65th and 67th minute and they are Scott Chipperfield and Josh “Jesus” Kennedy. The nickname comes from his beards and long hairdo that he sports by the way, but he didn't manage to live up to that nickname by becoming the Aussie's messiah tonight. Despite the see-sawing of attacking moves between the two teams, Australia was the team that looked like scoring at anytime and clinch a victory compared to Ghana who statistically dominated the game (with about 20 shots throughout the game) but they are so impotent in front of goal that those shots count for nothing. Their impotence in front of goal is simply what I was trying to point out about the “chronic sickness” that this Ghanaian team is unfortunate enough to have. At the 84th minute, the Australians brought on even more attacker by bringing in the Ukrainian born Nikita Rukavytsya. While the Ghanaians brought on Quincy Owusu Abeyle, Sulley Ali Muntari at the 56th and 76th minute respectively and also bringing in Matthew Amoah at the 87th minute, but still, it did not cure their impotence.

Although in the end, none of the teams managed to score more goals for the match, amazingly, the Australians ended up having no less than three strikers on the pitch with ten men when they started the match without any striker as mentioned earlier. The match, however, ended rather unceremoniously ith the sight of John Pantsil being stretchered off with his white shirt heavily stained red with blood due to a collision with Josh Kennedy in an aerial duel.

In the end, Ghana failed to clinch a victory and progress to the last 16 while the Australians would be happy with their performance with 10 men in the game and the fact that they are pretty much still alive in the competition. They play Serbia next and it is of course a must win game now for them to have any hopes of progressing but they will not be with the sent off Kewell and solid veteran defender Craig Moore who collected his second yellow card of the tournament, although Tim Cahill will be back to boost their chances.

While for Ghana, they are up against Germany next. On paper, it is no contest, as Germany have too much class to lose against Ghana. However, football matches are not won on paper, but still, judging from how impotent Ghana is besides from the penalty spot (and how many times could they rely on that?) and how Germany must be fired up now to win the remaining game as to progress into the last 16 and to forever bury the embarrassment they suffered in their recent defeat against Serbia once and for all. Ghana is in a tight spot, unless they are able to cure their impotence in front of goal, I am afraid to say that they have little chance of getting anything from the last game against Germany let alone a victory against Joachim Low's boys.

Holland 1-0 Japan World Cup 2010 Group E

2010-06-19T21:48:00.001+08:00

First off, congratulations for Holland as they have just become the second country after Argentina to successfully qualify to the last 16 of World Cup 2010 with the narrow 1-0 victory over Japan in Durban. OK, one personal note about Durban before I continue on with the match. When I was younger and “stupidier”, upon seeing the word “Durban”, the first and only thing that comes into my mind was male underwear. Before anyone starts to doubt my sexual orientation, it's because I saw that brand of the briefs quite frequently but as I grow up, I got to know that Durban is actually one of the big cities in South Africa. Continuing on with the match, the scoreline seemed so unflattering after fans have expected a continuation of the goal flood from the last few days in the tournament. Nevertheless, this match had its fair share of excitement as well as some interesting talking points.

Looking at both teams, starting off from Holland, in my opinion the most crucial player for the Oranje (the commentator pronounced it as Oran-gee, but I am not sure myself, so I might have to clarify with a Dutchman (or girl)) is Nigel de Jong and not Sneijder and Robben, who was on the bench and served more as Holland's insurance policy of sorts if they find themselves in a tough spot. This is not to take anything away from the Holland no. 10 and 11 (especially the former, the scorer of the winning goal in this match), but it can be argued that the Dutch team would not be so compact, organized, and at ease if de Jong is not present in the “Makelele” role. Perhaps this opinion of mine was formed from the fateful (I am a Madridista) memory about Real Madrid's catastrophic collapse when they unceremoniously sold Makelele to Chelsea in 2004 but still, I believe this Dutch team will not be the same without the Manchester City man. Another point to take note of for this Dutch team is that Robin van Persie seems to be unfit and out of sorts in this match as well as in the Denmark match. It's likely that his injury ravaged season with Arsenal has taken its toll.

As for the Japanese team, their main man is actually not Keisuke Hondas as many fans would be fiercely arguing especially with him scoring the winning goal against Cameroon in their first match in the competition but their indispensable key man was undoubtedly defender Tulio as the Brazilian born was an absolute tower in the Japanese defense thwarting waves after waves of the attack from the Dutch in this match and also Japan's biggest attacking threat through set pieces as well as when Tulio moved up front in the last 10 minutes to become a makeshift striker. Also, he's my personal choice for the man of the match in this match.

The first half started with a possible controversy when at 8th minute Robin van Persie seemed to kick out at Japan's Komano until the Japanese was stretchered off and received some treatments and at 25th minute when van Persie flailed his elbow on Nakazawa. It's difficult to ascertain whether those were intentional, but I'll just include those fr the record in case this debate surfaces tomorrow in the papers.

Holland generally dominated the match with the possession as much as 75% in Oranje's favor, but they were not able to score. In fact, the most precise shot in the first half was Keisuke Honda's free kick in which the ball managed to hit the camera behind the goal.

The second half as usual was eventful and also where the goal was. The Jabulani debate set to be re-ignited again after it has settled in the past few days as at the 52nd minute, Sneijder launched a blistering long range shot to score a super goal in which the Japanese goalkeeper didn't manage to keep out. Replay suggested that the Japanese keeper had anticipated the flight of the ball but the bal might have changed its flight abruptly in flight. In any case, 1-0 for Holland.

Right after the goal, sense of urgency crept into the Japanese side as they tried to be more attacking., and also bringing in Shunsuke Nakamura hoping to exploit his dead ball specialty to score. They also brought on two more strikers Okazaki and Tamada and for the last 10 minutes even employed defnder Tulio as a makeshift striker as mentioned above, but they didn't manage to threat Maarten Stekelenburg's goal at all.

As for the Dutch, their substitutions proved to be interesting with the introductions of Eljero Elia, Klaas jan Huntelaar, and Ibrahim Afellay. Afellay almost made instant impact twice as he almost scored in two occasions. Eljero Elia also further showed why fans have increasingly demanding Bert van Marwijk to play Elia right from the start. Huntelaar also proved one more time that indifferent club performance might not be a reliable yardstick as he almost set up Afellay in one of his two close calls. Huntelaar certainly made more impact than the aforementioned unfit and out of sorts van Persie did throughout the match.

As mentioned, Holland has managed to qualify to the last 16 with 2 wins out of 2 while Japan will now have to win against Denmark if they want to qualify to the last 16 as well and keep Takeshi Okada's brave target of semi-finals alive. How easy or hard Japan's task would depend on the result of the match between Denmark and Cameroon. In any case, all over the Netherlands is sure to be painted orange in celebration of Holland's achievement!

Slovenia 2-2 USA World Cup 2010 Group C

2010-06-19T00:50:00.001+08:00

I am still stunned, absolutely stunned. What a soccer drama it was. (To English people out there, I am so sorry, this is USA's night). What a game of soccer I had the privilege to watch all the way from the start to finish. Throughout this World Cup so far, not a single day has passed without records being broken, history being set, basically there's no day without a memorable World Cup moment. From how Slovenia recorded their first ever victory in the World Cup finals, as well as the Greeks winning and scoring for the first time, the South Koreans winning for the first time outside of Asia, and so on and so on and so on. In this soccer match, history was about to happen, as Slovenia was on the brink of their first ever qualification from the Group Stage in the World Cup, but just like the previous match between Germany and Serbia, football has another surprise in store for all of us. Many people including myself were quite skeptical prior to this match, thinking that this match would have been a boring match which is likely to end 1-0 or even 0-0. My gosh how we were totally wrong. We thought this match was about to be consigned to only lurk beneath the shadow of the previous match today and totally forgotten. But this match totally eclipsed the Germany match. It was full of wonderful goals, controversies throughout the match, pure entertainment, heart-stopping moments, basically full of World Cup moments to remember. A family member commented, “It's strange how soccer could make people go crazy...” Well, I didn't answer his question solidly back then, but it's because of matches like this we as soccer fans totally go crazy and let all hell break loose.

As mentioned, this match is simply crucial for both teams. For the Slovenians, a win would make them the second country after Argentina to qualify to the last 16 of the competition, while for the USA, a victory for them will keep their World Cup hopes alive. Slovenia almost made history but in the end they were pegged back and even almost defeated but for a huge controversy while the USA would be regretting how their defense was so porous in the first half.

The first ten minutes of the match turned out to be quite boring as I was about to switch off for a moment when I was suddenly awaken, violently but pleasantly when the Slovenian number 10 V. Birsa scored with a thunderous long range shot. This is history in itself as this was the first long range shot that actually got into the goal perfectly. It seems that Jabulani has been conquered after all those controversy about this “crazy little soccer ball”. 1-0 for Slovenia. The very first controversial referee decision was at the 39th minute when R. Findley of USA was wrongly booked for handball and he will miss the next crucial match against Algeria. The US defense continued to be porous and they conceded one more goal at the 41st minute through Zlatan Ljublianjik from a great defense splitting through ball. 2-0 for Slovenia and interestingly, both of the goals celebration by Slovenian players slightly resembled the Balinese traditional kecak dance.

By half time, it looked like Slovenia was set to follow right behind Argentina to qualify for the last 16 of the competition, but then again, it would take a fool to jump into that conclusion before the final whistle has been blown, let alone at half time. The second half started with a bang at 47th minute when Landon Donovan, US' best and most well known player scored a wonder goal from a tight angle to peg one back for USA and give them a glimmer of hope to get something out of this match or even launching a remarkable comeback from 2 goals down. This match also had its own crazy moments, WWE moments to be precise, maybe it's USA playing, that's why. At 59th minute, Clint Dempsey was seen executing a DDT on a Slovenia defender that left the player on the ground for a while. At the 62nd minute, it was Jozy Altidore's turn to execute an arm bar takedown on Suler but he was countered by the Slovenian defender.

Another controversial moment came at 69th minute when Jozy Altidore burst through the Slovenian penalty box and he was pulled back by Suler. Suler was only given a yellow card when he should have sent off as he was the last man and he prevented a clear goalscoring opportunity. USA tried to attack by substituting defender Oguchi Onyewu for striker Herculez Gomez. Prior to the sub, a few more controversial decisions against the USA by the referee but Slovenian players also started collecting yellow cards. One minute after that at the 81st minute Michael Bradley, the son of the US manager Bob Bradley heroically and dramatically clinched a great equalizer shooting with power from an Altidore flick on. This shook the stadium and stunned Slovenia who thought they have won this match. This also justified Bob Bradley's inclusion of his son when he was heavily criticized for a nepotism selection. The biggest controversy among all the controversies so far was at the 85th minute when the USA got a free kick near the penalty area near the corner flag and Maurice Edu scored for what supposed to be a marvelous winning goal but the Malian referee Coulibaly strangely chalked that totally legitimate goal off. From the replays, it could be seen that there was no foul, nor offside, nor any other infringements, and yet the goal was chalked off. What a moment that sent even me jumping in the air for that goal. But the referee got a decision correct when at the last minute, he didn't give Clint Dempsey a free kick as he simply slipped on the ground.

From this dramatic result, Slovenia didn't manage to become the second country after Argentina to qualify for the last 16 despite being ever so close to that achievement and that USA is still pretty much in the World Cup. Now, the USA have to win against Algeria to ensure their qualifications while for the rest of the possible permutations and combinations, it would totally depend on the result of the upcoming match between England and Algeria and since I don't like mathematics, and mathematics does not like me, I shall leave the mathematics to those who are well versed in the subject. In any case, it was truly a classic match with a complete entertainment package. Congratulations to both teams for this marvelous match!

Germany 0-1 Serbia World Cup 2010 Group D

2010-06-18T21:48:00.000+08:00

After all the hype about the flood of goals in this match, we are back to yet another 1-0 victory in this World Cup 2010 which is criticized for its lack of goals. Prior to the match, 19 out of 20 (and the other one was just joking in a silly way) predicted a demolition of Serbia by Germany. Some said 4-0, some 5-0, and some even dared to predict a repeat of the 8-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia in World Cup 2002. The stage was set, the script was set, everything was set for Germany to win big against Serbia and become the second country after Argentina to go through to the last 16 and for Serbia's World Cup run to end abruptly. However, World Cup being World Cup, football being football, it has another script and huge surprise in store for us. This match also had its fair share of a few deja-vus from the recent matches of this World Cup. A player who caught my eye in this match would be Serbia's Milos Krasic who has just recently moved to Juventus. Besides his decent performance on the right wing in this match, his appearance also has a resemblance to the legendary Czech winger Pavel Nedved complete with the flowing whitish blonde hair locks. Since Krasic is also a Juventus player now, is he the new Nedved?

The match didn't start as expected as Germany was surprisingly lackluster in the match right from the start. Also, the referee seemed to be so card happy in this match especially against Germany in which the first 30 minutes resulted in 3 yellow for Germany and 2 for the Serbians. The thing about the German yellow cards is that they resulted from the Serbian players tumbling down onto the pitch despite minimal contact if there was any. A few controversial points if I am being asked. At the 36th minute, Miroslav Klose received his marching orders as he received his second yellow card from the game despite seemingly only lightly touching the Serbian player he fouled. This red card early in the game certainly had a dejavu feeling to yesterday's Greece vs Nigeria game. This sending off certainly robbed Germany of its main and perhaps sole source of goals in this match as well as his height to win headers as the rest of the German attackers such as Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, and Lukas Podolski are all not the tallest players around and it's not likely that they can win tussles whether in the air or on the ground against burly, big, and strong Serbian defenders such as Nemanja Vidic and Neven Subotic. The Greece vs Nigeria dejavu didn't end there as one minute later, Serbia scored through Milan Jovanovic from Milos Krasic's cross which was flicked on by the tall Nikola Zigic. 1-0 for Serbia and Jovanovic was seen celebrating with the Serbian fans in front of the stands. At this point of time, Ballack's figure as a “pseudo-manager” was needed most (just like what I have mentioned in my previous post titled the “Effects of Ballack's Absence on Germany”) to prevent any catastrophic collapse just like what Nigeria experienced last night. Nevertheless, Sami Khedira almost equalized but he hit the post. Had he equalized it would have helped Germany's morale and belief immensely.

In the second half, another dejavu at the 59th minute when Serbia's Vidic did a weird ballet dance and handled the ball in the penalty area, just like how Kusmanovic handled the ball in the penalty area in Serbia's defeat against Ghana in their first match. I know Eastern Europe is renowned for their ballet dancers, but I certainly can't imagine how Vidic would look like in a ballet dress. Jokes aside, Germany got a great chance to equalize but perhaps because Podolski was totally overwhelmed by his new role as Germany's source of goal, he missed the penalty (after missing several chances to score prior to this).

Germany tried to restore some height and some muscleup front by replacing Mesut Ozil with the burly and strong Cacau and also bringing on Marin (a winger) for the tired Muller. At this time, Serbia was still doing what they had been doing throughout the match, falling like flies exposed to insecticide every tme a German player come near them. More yellow cards for German players because of this. At the 76th minute with Germany still trailing, Joachim Low refused to give up and he played his last card by bringing in Mario Gomez for Badstuber, but still to no avail as they were nowhere near threatening the Serbian goal, not with their man deficit and shattered confidence. At the very last minutes, even defender Per Mertesacker was up front helping out the attack to add even more muscle and height in a desperate attempt to equalize but it was not to be and Serbia has made history by inflicting a defeat to Germany which they have not suffered in World Cup Group Stages since 1986. Now, since Germany failed to become the second nation after Argentina to go to the last 16, the Group is now as open as it could be, and it would go down all the way to the last match and all the teams in Group D have everything to play for. Great surprise once again from this World Cup, totally the opposite of what everyone had predicted. What's next in store for all of us from this intriguing but entertaining World Cup!

Greece 2-1 Nigeria World Cup 2010 Group B

2010-06-18T00:30:00.004+08:00

In the white-collar world especially, when someone blurts out the word “Nigeria”, the first and perhaps the only thing that comes into most of the people who hear it is the Advance-Fee Fraud (Nigerian 419 scam). For those laypersons out there, it is the infamous scam through e-mail in which it is not the correct occasion for me to explain fully but one thing for sure, it is something really negative about Nigeria. In this match against Greece, it was such a crucial match for Nigeria. Firstly, by beating Greece, they would have condemned Greece to go home early from World Cup 2010 and puts them in a extreme play-off against the recently beaten South Korea to decide who gets into the last 16 of the competition. This is also crucial to shed the country's bad images such as the one mentioned above and thus to project a positive image about the country to the whole world. There's nothing better to convey such message as in a global event as big as the World Cup. As for Greece, they were a side condemned by all corners to be knocked out soon and severely beaten by Nigeria in this match, but fate has another say...

At the start of the match, Nigeria showed the world just that as they simply dominated over Greece thoroughly and Nigeria took the lead in just 15 minutes through Kalu Uche's not so wonderful but effective free kick. They continued to dominate Greece to such an extent that it looked like it would be a massive thrashing in store for Greece. However, just like most of the Greek mythology stories out there, everything which seems glorious and powerful, will only face a really tragic and sadistic end (unless we read the kids version of the mythology, that is). At 32nd minute, for whatever reason it was, the Nigerian player S. Kaita suddenly kicked out a Greek player lightly on the touchline prior to a throw in. The Greek player was only too happy and fall down as if his thigh was shot by a magnum and the ref promptly sent Kaita off so shamefully. In my opinion, it wasn't necessary at all for Kaita to do that no matter what. Never touch an opponent unnecessarily in a football match or you will pay a heavy price and let your team down. Furthermore, it's not as if Nigeria was trailing in frustration, they were thoroughly dominated the match and they were a goal up, and on course to getting more goals scored and of course getting themselves on course to qualify to the last 16.

Greece's manager Otto Rehhagel was too experienced not to let this opportunity to pass by and immediately put Georgios Samaras into the fray in an extremely attacking substitution and it worked wonders. The pathetic Greek team from the first match against South Korea as well as during the first 32 minutes of this match suddenly turned into a group of titans from Olympus. From this moment all the way to the end of the match, all they did was attack attack and attack. Although Vincent Enyeama, the Nigerian goalkeeper was heroic throughout the match, there's only so much to do for one man to carry a whole nation alone, and he duly conceded at the 43rd minute and that's the end of the half.

The second half got Nigeria even worse. In this half, anything that could go wrong, simply go wrong for Nigeria and it started at 53rd minute when one of their strongest defenders Taye Taiwo needed to be substituted as he was injured while Enyeama continued to rescue Nigeria time after time with stunning saves. But he again conceded a goal at the 70th minute. It was such an emotional sight. I really felt for Enyeama. I think he deserves so much more than such a humiliation like this. After this fateful goal, the other 9 players on the pitch seemed to had thrown in the towel and they simply hoped for the match to end sooner or later. To his credit Vincent Enyeama continued to have massive spirits in this game. He continued to have that sense of urgency, the belief that Nigeria could still rescue this game. This was shown when he eagerly requested for the ball from the ballboy so that he could promptly pass the ball for his team mates to score and rescue Nigeria's World Cup campaign. The Greeks were attacking like Barcelona now, such that when Samaras dribbled past a few Nigerian players in Nigeria's penalty box, I thought he was Messi who suddenly grows tall.

It was such a humiliating day for Nigeria now that they are 95% knocked out from the competition unless a mathematical miracle happens in which just like how the commentator put it, I won't go into the details of the complex permutations and combinations, but Nigeria has very little hope of progressing, so little that they are as good as getting knocked out. No matter what, Vincent Enyeama is my choice for the man of the match award! Very well done Enyeama! See you in the UEFA Champions League, you deserve a big move now after two stunning performances against Argentina and now the Titan infused Greece.

As for Greece, congratulations for their first ever win in the World Cup finals, and unlike Nigeria, they might even go through from Group B if things turn out in their favor. If Nigeria and South Korea play out to a draw, and they beat an Argentina side which would surely put out a non full strength side as they have qualified to the last 16, they would turn from a World Cup no hopers to joining Argentina to qualify to the last 16 of the competition. It was such a memorable match... For Vincent Enyeama and for Greece. If I am a Nigerian editor, the headline which I would put up tomorrow would be “1 Stupid Eagle, 9 Ordinary Eagles and 1 Extraordinarily Super Eagle Vincent Enyeama!”

Argentina 4-1 South Korea World Cup 2010 Group B

2010-06-17T21:55:00.000+08:00

Vamos! Argentina have just become the first country to go through from the Group Stage of the World Cup 2010 thanks to the impressive victory against the unsurprisingly resolute and hard working South Koreans! This victory was down to the sheer genius of Diego Maradona, the Argentina manager who initiated a match defining, masterstroke substitution to kill off any remaining challenge from the South Koreans! To be fair to the South Koreans, they were resolute and looked like equalizing or even overturning the Argentine until the aforementioned genius masterstroke decision from the legend himself! Maradona is also the first manager who deviated from the cowardice 4-5-1 formation to play the brave and attacking 4-4-2 Diamond formation, which is my personal favorite formation of all. Despite this crushing defeat, the South Koreans is pretty much in he competition and likely to join Argentina to go through from Group B. But how hard it would be depends on the match between Nigeria and Greece very soon from the time of writing.

The first half was utterly dominated by Argentina with plenty of pace from Angel di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Jonas Gutierrez, the free role Leo Messi, as well as the hard-working machine like Carlos Tevez who chased for practically for every ball no matter what. Argentina started the match all the way to the highest gear and they really dominated the match, playing the fabled Barcelonaesque football with plenty of pacey and swift dazzling passes on the pitch. Argentina, with their brave formation and attacking style were rewarded soon at the 16th minute when a Messi cross was turned to his own goal by South Korean striker Park Chu-Young. It was a perfect strike from the AS Monaco man, but he scored to the wrong goal. 1-0 to Argentina. At the 20th minute, Walter Samuel needed to be replaced with N. Burdisso, reminiscence to how Philippe Senderos of Suisse needed to be substituted early in the match against Spain. The extent of his injury is not known yet. Argentina domination continued when Higuain scored with a very nice header, the first of many for the night. However, Argentina was totally stunned when a terrible mistake by Martin Demichelis allowed Lee Chung Yong to pull one back right before half time. 2-1.

In the second half, the complexion of the match changed and Argentina were pinned back by South Koreans and the Koreans looked like scoring at anytime as Argentina stuttered, frustrated and started collecting yellow cards for silly reasons. This is despite the commentator stating in the first half that there will be no way back for S. Korea if Argentina is 2-0 up. It was bad as Jonas will also miss the potentially crucial next match against Greece due to a second yellow card in the tournament (if the Koreans managed to hold or defeat Argentina which at that time was a huge possibility). South Korea's goalkeeper Jung Sung Ryong also looked like he won't concede another goal.

However, Maradona showed the world why he's a genius manager when he decided at the 74th minute to replace the out of steam and larely anonymous Tevez in the second half for Sergio Aguero. This is what separates an ordinary manager with a genius manager. An ordinary manager would have brought on Diego Milito in desperation based on his exploits for his club. But, club and country football are two very different things and the fact that Aguero didn't have a good season with Atletico Madrid is irrelevant. One minute later, Aguero made a great run and was greatly involved in the attacking move involving Messi as well with Higuain tapping in after Messi had hit the post. 3-1 for Argentina. At the 80th minute, Aguero was at it again when he assisted Higuain to complete his marvelous hat-trick and utterly destroyed South Korea 4-1. With this, Argentina dominated again and at right after the goal, Higuain came off to be replaced by M. Bolatti the hero against Uruguay in the qualifiers which secured Argentina's qualification into the World Cup for Higuain's well deserved standing ovation. Aguero even managed to almost obtained a well deserved Argentina's 5th goal at the very last minute.

Amazing victory for Argentina, and they have qualified to the last 16 and are on course to even go all the way in the tournament. Now, the aforementioned ban of Jonas Gutierrez is no longer relevant and it is just like he's rested for the now dead rubber match against the Greeks in which Maradona is likely to experiment with his second team with the likes of Martin Palermo for example. For South Korea, this defeat doesn't mean that they won't go through as from their performance between the 45-74th minute, they are more than capable of beating Nigeria and join Argentina to the last 16. Again, how easy it would be for South Korea to go through depends on the upcoming match between Nigeria and Greece. Enjoy!

Spain 0-1 Suisse World Cup 2010 Group H

2010-06-17T00:38:00.000+08:00

It was another 1-0 in World Cup 2010. However, it was such a scintillating and a thrilling match. No, not because I am a Swiss, but because I have to admit that I am some sort of an underdog guy. Spain was totally the overwhelming in this competition such that 19 out of 20 people I asked said that they support Spain and the other one supports Brazil. Congratulations to Switzerland for their first ever win against Spain, and to do it in the World Cup finals game, and not in a meaningless friendly, certainly a great achievement and satisfaction to everyone associated with Switzerland. The Spanish team was actually such a great and extraordinary team on paper. I realized this upon glancing at their squad list prior to kick-off. Picture this, a coalition team of players (although only the Spanish players but yeah) from Real Madrid, Barcelona, and bits and pieces here and there from Valencia, Liverpool and a few other clubs. A totally world beating team on paper. The supposedly red hot Spanish knives were looking forward to slice through and totally melt the Swiss chocolate on display. However, little did they know that the Swiss chocolate in front of them is one which is frozen solid and a frozen chocolate not only difficult to be bitten and eaten, but also can be used as a weapon to throw at someone or beat them up using the chocolate (Don't try these at home, just trying to illustrate the Swiss team for tonight using a chocolate analogy).

The 1-0 scoreline again might baffle anyone who did not watch the match. Spain utterly and totally dominated the match and the Swiss team all the way from the first whistle to the final whistle. Their possession at one time amounted to a whopping 77%, surely one of the highest ever in a World Cup or any competitive match ever. However, biting into a frozen solid chocolate is not an easy task. Blame the Jabulani Ball, blame the altitude, blame the heroic Diego Benaglio, the Swiss keeper, blame anything. But Switzerland amazingly held on to the Spanish onslaught. Switzerland scored the winning goal at the 51st minute through Gelson Fernandes capitalizing from a heap of Spanish bodies of Iker Casillas, Puyol, and Pique strewn all over the penalty area. Just like most of the other matches on this World Cup, one goal is all it takes to win a match and this match turned out to be no exception. Spain then made two attacking substitutions by introducing Fernando Torres and Jesus Navas. The former to add some attacking dimension and also some height in the Spanish attakc and squad in general, while Navas was introduced to reinvent the Spanish midfield as the man he replaced, David Silva seemed to have run out of ideas to break the frozen solid and resolute Swiss chocolate. Nobody would have thought of this as somewhere in the first half when Philipe Senderos had to be substituted as he suffered an injury, he walked off so slowly but to be fair to him he was dejected, but nevertheless, it seemed to be a signal from the Swiss that they were more than happy to hold Spain to a goalless draw. If Switzerland had faced Honduras perhaps, Senderos would have walked off at least a bit faster than that.

As time passed, Spain grew ever more frustrated and at the last 5 minutes of the game, they were so dominating and so frustrated and so overwhelmed with sense of urgency by then that every single Spanish player except for Puyol (which he was about to join the attack soon) and goalkeeper Casillas. Still, the frozen Swiss chocolate won't crack. The 5 minutes of injury time was a bit controversial and when it was announced my mind flew back all the way to when Manchester City was defeated by Manchester United back in the Fall in 2009 due to a crazily lengthy of injury time at Old Trafford as well as the FIFA Seeding system for the World Cup play-off in which there was a conspiracy theory brewing about how FIFA is desperate to see the best teams win and be featured in the World Cup all the way to the latter stages. But, Switzerland held firmly despite the fact that during the 5 minutes, every single player barring Casillas was in the Swiss half of the pitch. It was amazing how the Swiss held on mainly thanks to Diego Benaglio's heroic, in which I am a fan of this player since 2009 and I believe he is the man of the match for this one. Congratulations Switzerland for the major upset in this World Cup. To be fair to Spain, this is just the first match, and they should be able to overcome Honduras and Chile to go through to the last 16. Also, history suggests that teams that start slow in the World Cup tend to do well in the competition. Thus, for all Spain's fans including the aforementioned glory hunters, there's still hope for Spain!

Honduras 0-1 Chile World Cup 2010 Group H

2010-06-16T21:38:00.000+08:00

To ordinary fans, this match is only a match to be passed by before the much anticipated first match of the much favored Spain in the World Cup 2010 against Switzerland. However, to the fans of those country as well as the other fans who are more well-versed and knowledgeable in football universe, this match is certainly more than a match between two underdogs making up the numbers in Group H. For Honduras, their World Cup campaign is in fact very crucial in reuniting the country since it was divided and chaotic due to the military coup recently in which their president Manuel Zelaya was forcibly ousted. I read a good and interesting article about this and it would do a world of good for Honduras if they are able to do well in this World Cup. Also, this is their first World Cup finals appearance since Spain 82 and they certainly want to show the world the Honduran brand of football. For their opponents Chile, it is 48 years since their victory in the World Cup finals against Yugoslavia and they certainly want to break that unwanted record, and not forgetting the fact that Chile has somehow been forgotten in world football and they certainly want to return Chile to the footballing map.

The only bad thing about this match was of course the fact that the World Cup 2010 “curse” continues in which goals come at a premium and that one goal would likely to kill a game off and there will be no more goals all the way to the end of the match. That was the case for this match. The result went on Chile's favor and thus congratulations for them for winning a match again in the World Cup finals. Despite the scoreline, Chile deserved the victory as they thoroughly dominated the match. From the first minute, it was able to be seen clearly as Honduras was playing a lone ranger 4-5-1 formation while Chile was playing an attacking 4-4-2 formation, taking the initiatives to attack. Also, the gulf of class was also apparent and thus Chile were the victors. The only thing preventing a flurry of goals was as usual, the Jabulani ball in which so many shots ended up over the bar from Chile (there were not that many shots from Honduras) and also to be fair, the heroics of the Honduran goalkeeper in the second half.

Also, this match caught my attention to two Chilean players. They are the right back Isla, who was a striker initially before being converted, and the 22 year old was the one assisting for the winning goal. His marauding runs from the back was a sight to behold. Another player who was simply amazing is the 21 year old Alexis Sanchez. His runs, dribbles, trickery, and pace were simply irresistible and he simply wreak havoc in the Honduran half of the pitch. The big clubs will surely have taken note of those two names, Isla and Alexis Sanchez! Despite playing against Honduras which is not the best team in the World Cup finals, their skills were there to see, totally in control of the game and Chile's attacks were mostly centered on these two players. We will see how they fare next against Switzerland and the favorites Spain.

Portugal 0-0 Ivory Coast World Cup 2010 Group G

2010-06-16T00:34:00.001+08:00

The much anticipated Group G matches, which is none other than the proverbial Group of Death of World Cup 2010 have commenced with the start of the Ivory Coast vs Portugal match. This match was also the first truly big game in the Group Stage in the World Cup 2010 so far. The big match atmosphere could be felt (heard to be more precise) from the sheer loudness of the sounds from the much criticized and also equally admired vuvuzelas. This match is crucial for both teams as if they are defeated or even draw this game, it would be an uphill battle for both teams to go through from the Group of Death as they need to overcome Brazil as well as the unknown quantity DPRK (North Korea) in which there's no guarantee that the match with the East Asians to be a walk in the park. Just like all matches in this World Cup barring Germany's match against Australia, goals come at a premium and this match ended in a disappointing 0-0 draw. However, despite the deceptively boring and unspectacular scoreline, this match was filled with its own intrigues as well as not short of various controversies throughout the match.

The Portuguese still have yet to overcome their old problem of shortage of credible goal poaching striker. Even with the recent naturalization of the Sporting Lisbon favorite Liedson, he was almost anonymous throughout the match and threats of scoring only come from Cristiano Ronaldo, the captain and star man of the Portuguese team. The most expensive player in the world was deployed on the right flank, however, unlike the wasted Samuel Eto'o in the Cameroon vs Japan match, Ronaldo was given a license to roam all over the pitch (free role) and thus he was everywhere on the pitch, although mostly on the right and on the middle. Meanwhile, for Ivory Coast, Didier Drogba, who is half fit started on the bench and Salomon Kalou was tasked of deputizing for Drogba alongside the young livewire Gervinho.

At the start of the match, it seemed that Ivory Coast was out to scrutinize and rough-up Cristiano Ronaldo as in the first 20 minutes or so, he was constantly heavily marked and sent tumbled with real pushes and shoves from the Ivorian players which culminated in his altercation with Guy Demel in which both players were booked. Ivory Coast dominated the match more in the first half due to the brilliance of the youngster Gervinho.

Rain started to fall in the second half, marking the first time it rains in a match in World Cup 2010 in Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Both teams still lack the cutting edge, with Ivory Coast especially threatening through Gervinho but nobody to finish his hard work and silky skills. Didier Drogba finally made the much anticipated entry at the 65th minute replacing his deputy Kalou and he was greeted by blows of vuvuzelas from the stands. Strangely, instead of augmenting Ivory Coast's attack by having Drogba to finish the excellent penetrations of Ivory Coast as mentioned above, right after Drogba entered the fray, Ivory Coast was plunged into a plethora of problems as well as the end of controversies.

First, for unknown reasons, Ivory Coast number 9 Tiote spent a long time on the bench seemingly adjusting his boots and also Kolo Toure suffered a bout of cramp and had to be treated with some stretching and some ethyl chloride from the physios. All the while when those things happened, Ivory Coast played with 10 men and it's curious on why the ref would allow the play to continue like that. I think the ref should have made more stoppages for the long treatments and compensate it by adding the lost time as injury time. The injury time was only for 3 minutes, and had the ref made proper stoppages for the cramps and stuff, the injury time could have easily last to up to 6 minutes at least. Also, it seems strange that the referee obliged so much with Portugal's cry baby hand raising requesting for decisions favoring them while leaving Ivory Coast to play with 10 men when their players went down injured for example.

It was also a curious case on why the excellent Gervinho who was pivotal in Ivory Coast's attacks throughout the game was pulled off at the 81st minute, ight after Cristiano Ronaldo narrowly missed his free kick. I feel that had the ball was not Jabulani, Ronaldo would have scored the goal. Perhaps realizing this, Sven Goran Eriksson decided to replace Gervvinho with the defensive player Kader Keita to just try to hold on to the 0-0 scoreline and focus on the next games rather than taking risks going forward and possibly concede a goal and be defeated which would put their World Cup destiny in jeopardy.

The injury time was pulsating as both teams especially Ivory coast tried to score the winning goal. At the last minute of the injury time, there was another referee controversy. Ivory Coast's Ti Ene was down with a cramp, while Ivory Coast got a last minute corner. However, Ivory Coast decided to play with a short corner, and as it happened, the ref blew for full time. Many would argue that the ref should have allowed the attack to end before signaling the full time whistle as Ivory Coast potentially could score a dramatic winning goal there. Perhaps, the ref assumed that Ti Ene was faking his cramps? Who knows, but in my opinion, had he allowed the corner to continue, and especially assuming that Ivory Coast decided to launch a long corner instead, there would be a repeat of an incident long time ago in a past World Cup in which I think Brazil scored from a last minute corner but the ref blew the final whistle as the corner was kicked. Thus, it might have stirred even more controversy and good thing that Ivory Coast decided to play a short corner.

Nevertheless, both teams are safe at the moment and now they have to focus on Brazil and the DPRK and on paper, they have a great chance to progress as they only need to get three more points. But one of them will be knocked out assuming that they all win against the DPRK but Brazil wins all their three matches. But don't underestimate the DPRK as they are more than capable of springing surprises in this World Cup and don't bet against them surviving Group G to go through to the knockout rounds! Beware Ivory Coast and Portugal!

New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia World Cup 2010 Group F

2010-06-15T21:39:00.000+08:00

This was the match between the two underdogs in Group F, and it ended all square 1-1. It seems to be a boring scoreline as what we are already or at least are getting used to in this World Cup, but this 1-1 is arguably the first ever amazing result in this World Cup finals. The first half of this match was as usual a very drab affair with both teams being cautious and cagey against each other. The only notable moments in this half are Marek Hamsik and Vladimir Weiss (pron: Vice), two of Slovakia's star players as well as the moments in which Mark Paston, New Zealand's heroic goalkeeper who almost gifted Slovakia a goal by miscuing his long kick from his penalty area. This time, it wasn't Jabulani's fault thankfully and thus won't be added into the growing list of criticisms against the poor ball and also the moment in which Marek Hamsik reminds everyone how good he is when he became the next player who is able to control Jabulani properly when he arrived late just outside of the penalty box from a corner to get a long range shot which was saved. The first half, predictably ended 0-0. Another point to note is Simon Elliott, New Zealand's number 7 who is the pseudo-manager in this team (refer to my article about Ballack's absence for more information).

As usual in this World Cup, a goal would be scored at the start of the second half and this match was no exception. Slovakia managed to score through a headed goal by Robert Vittek although it was a controversial one as two Slovakia players were in an offside position for that goal. Right after this goal all the way to the 90th minute, it was a drab affair with both teams, especially Slovakia trying to score the second goal which would condemn New Zealand not only to defeat but to a knocking out from the competition altogether. It seemed set that Slovakia was to gather all three points. When Vladimir Weiss, the standout performer in the game and the son of their manager also named Vladimir Weiss was taken off at the last minute to earn his standing ovation and also to run down the clock, we could see how he trudged off slowly, taking his time, and every player and staff of Slovakia thinking the game was already wrapped by then. How they were wrong, as long as the final whistle has yet to be blown, it's not over. In the 92nd minute, only a few seconds left to the end, New Zealand's star man Shane Smeltz managed to get a good cross into the Slovakian penalty box and defender W. Reid (who earlier in the match managed to do a great tackle preventing Slovakia from scoring) happened to be there and he heroically headed the ball into the Slovakian net for the equalizer. It was such an electric moment as even I was stunned. When the ball entered, I thought it was going to be chalked off but it didn't. It was a legitimate goal and I was a New Zealander for those few seconds. It was such a heart-stopping World Cup moment. He then celebrated wildly by taking his shirts off and was yellow carded, but he and all New Zealanders couldn't care less about that. New Zealand have made history! Best ever result in the World Cup Finals. This shows that New Zealand can kick soccer balls as well as they can kick rugby balls! Congratulations New Zealand!

My Personal Take on Adidas Jabulani

2010-06-15T13:35:00.000+08:00

Adidas Jabulani, the official match ball of World Cup 2010 has been coming under intense scrutiny from all over the footballing universe. From goalkeepers to strikers, from pundits to ordinary armchair fans, basically everyone has had their own say on how the Jabulani ball, besides the vuvuzelas, is ruining the World Cup 2010 experience. Curiously, during the recent African Nations Cup 2010 in Angola, in which the same Jabulani ball was used (albeit in the colors of the Angolan flag), no one complained about the ball. But now, so many are complaining. In any case, I think this is time for me to personally give my 2 cents' worth about this intriguing and quite cool looking match ball. Personally, I have with me one of those much criticized Jabulani ball with me and thus I am able to do a few little experiments with that ball and thus I am able to augment my arguments and general say about the ball.

Firstly, if we have been following the World Cup 2010 matches so far, we would have noticed that the Jabulani ball resembles a rugby ball in terms of its flight. We have seen how direct free-kicks and long range shots have all ended way above the crossbar. The various long range attempts on goal keep on making us reminiscing about rugby ball, only that it is round shaped. This is so different from the Teamgeist match ball used back in World Cup 2006 in which there were so many spectacular long range shots and free kicks able to be scored. (Even that ball was criticized, so it shows that it is not easy at all to please anyone, let alone everyone in the footballing world). Personally, I have yet to test my own Jabulani out on an open field for a kickabout as it would be detrimental to the ball's general conditions. But the World Cup matches are more than substantiating that rugby ball resemblance fact.

Secondly, we have also seen that goalkeepers in the competition are not able to cleanly catch and smother the ball. It seems that the Jabulani's spin is so persistent that even when goalkeepers have managed to catch the ball with their arms, the ball is still spinning in their hands and flies out of their hands and in certain cases (England's Robert Green and Algeria's goalkeeper against Slovenia) resulting in goals being scored. While the rest of the goalkeepers who fumbled the ball due to this as well as whole countries suffer a huge scare each time. As for my own experiment, I have tried spinning the ball and then catching it mid-air, it did show a persistence in spinning, but as far as my little experiment goes, it was not that significant, but in the actual match, it perhaps is, when taking into account grogginess and things like that in the actual match.

Thirdly, the Jabulani ball really knows how to bounce around! When the ball drops from the air, it bounces really high and if left on its own device, it would bounce so many times and it would bounce high as well when headed away by defending players. This would undoubtedly cause the vertical flight of the Jabulani ball to be unpredictable as well, but nevertheless, defending against long balls becomes easier as the ball goes much further when headed away by defending players. Just like how the Japanese players thwarted the Cameroonian useless long balls easily to send the ball deep into the Cameroon half each time in their historic 1-0 victory last night from the time of writing. I have experimented with this by dropping Jabulani alongside another match ball from the same height, and Jabulani really bounces much higher and for so many times. When the other ball has settled on the ground, Jabulani was still bouncing 4-5 times more before settling itself.

Lastly, since long range goals always go way over the bar (except for Cameroon's Stephane Mbia against Japan who managed to hit the goalpost), the only kind of long range goals would be the kind of tame and meek shots just like how Robert Koren scored against Algeria in Slovenia's 1-0 victory.

All of these show that Jabulani has indeed been playing a huge role in the World Cup 2010 so far and thus has been in the center of controversies surrounding the competition. Many would argue that the players have had so many training sessions with the ball by now, as well as the few friendly matches with the ball prior to the competition proper. They would also point out to Germany's massive 4-0 victory against Australia recently. However, we have to realize that the German players, who are mostly from the German Bundesliga have been used with Adidas balls since Bundesliga is the only top league in Europe using Adidas balls while the rest such as Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga, and Barclays Premier League are all using Nike balls. Thus, after playing with other balls for so many full seasons, the Adidas balls might be hard to get used to.

Japan 1-0 Cameroon World Cup 2010 Group E

2010-06-15T00:15:00.001+08:00

Stand aside Africa, this is Asia's year! Since World Cup 2010 is held in Africa for the first time, the six African teams participating in the World Cup as well as African football in general are under the microscope. Everyone expecting something special from the African teams. But, it is Asia, or more specifically East Asia of all continents which is flourishing really rapidly in the Rainbow Nation. After South Korea had defeated Greece quite comfortably by 2-0 scoreline, now it's Japan's turn to defeat Cameroon, a team which I predicted to do well in this World Cup 1-0, and now Cameroon is in a grave danger of not being able to go through the Group Stage. It was an utterly frustrating night for Cameroon, filled with extremely stupid tactical set-up right from the start of the match, as well as another stupid and irrational tactics when they are trailing all the way to the end of the match. It was Cameroon self-destructed actually, to be fair to the Cameroon players. It was simply frustrating to watch how Cameroon's talented and supposedly great squad was turned to a squad of clowns in front of the gallant samurais.

As all of us have accustomed by now, the first half of this match was just like any first half from the other matches. A very cautious, drab, insomnia-curing, as well as cagey affair. Both teams simply canceled each other almost throughout the first half except for when Cameroon's defenders made a huge and extremely costly mistake in allowing Keisuke Honda to be unmarked and had all the time in the world to score the goal which turned out to be the one separating both teams. To start off the Honda puns which would fill the next day's headlines all over the world, I would love to be the first to declare that Honda car has beaten the indomitable lions in a race to victory! I had a gut feeling prior to the match that if Honda scores the winning goal, there will sure be a plethora of Honda car puns the next day, and it turned out to be just that. Amazing.

When the second half started, I was for one really disgusted and equally baffled by the fact that Paul le Guen did not alter his irrational strategy of the first half when he played Eto'o as a right winger. It was such a waste of a world beating player at the peak of his powers and that his strong point in the game is scoring goals and to lift the teams. This is compounded by the fact that Eto'o is Cameroon's star player and captain who carries the whole nation on his shoulders. It was puzzling that Eto'o was left to rot on the right flank. Also, when they are trailing, Cameroon decided to play the long ball game in search of the equalizer. Smart move against a group of supposedly short and fragile Japanese players? Hell no, with tall and bulky defenders such as Tulio, Yuki Abe, and Nakazawa, their long ball approach was totally redundant and utterly useless. To add to the baffling facts, Cameroon players, including Eto'o who was wasted on the right flank are short and thus playing the long ball against the tall Japanese defenders was a suicidal move to say the least.

Japan clearly did the proverbial parking the bus in front of the goal, and there might have been an invisible bus parked in front of their goal, and one more bus in front of it. Cameroon was totally clueless. No matter how many redundant and useless long balls they launched into the penalty box, the tall Japanese players easily head the ball away. Strange thing? Still no change at all in terms of tactics. Eto'o still being wasted on the right and long ball tactics continued.

Another strange thing was that, maybe the Japanese players were indeed fragile, or was it a time wasting and cunning tactics, but when the Cameroon players come near the Japanese players, they fell down so easily like flies being exposed to insecticide. Totally no way through for Cameroon even though they did hit the bar late on. So unfortunate, but they destroyed themselves in the match.

Cameroon is now totally in danger of being knocked out in the Group Stage as they face Denmark and the Netherlands for their remaining matches. Judging from their ridiculous tactics and their weak play in this match, I don't think they will be able to get anything from Denmark and Netherlands. Goodbye Cameroon... and congratulations to Japan for winning their first ever World Cup game outside of their country and they just need to at least get a point from Denmark and Holland to progress and creep ever closer to Takeshi Okada, their manager's targets of reaching the semi-finals. The manager was laughed at from all over. But now, who dares to laugh at him now? For that matter, who dares to laugh at the East Asians, with North Korea expected to surprise Brazil as well if the Samba boys are not careful in their Group G opening match.

Holland 2-0 Denmark World Cup 2010 Group E

2010-06-14T21:33:00.001+08:00

Holland against Denmark, arguably the biggest and most even match in the Group Stage so far. It was played on a sunny Johannesburg afternoon. However, just like what the commentator, who seemed to be shivering as he occasionally seethes throughout the match that even though it's sunny, the match was played at an altitude and that it's winter time in South Africa, unlike summer time in the northern hemisphere. The first half started in a very uneventful way as both teams failed to break the deadlock in the half. The only notable exception in the first half was the fueling of the continuation of the Jabulani debate in which both Holland and Denmark always blast the ball over the bar in long shots and most notably during direct free kicks in which it is almost impossible to get past the opponent's defensive wall and to get it on target at the same time.

Nevertheless, Holland looked the better team in the first half as Holland looked like a very well drilled team even though they had to make do without Arjen Robben who won't feature in this match but they seemed to have no problems getting their acts together besides scoring a goal of course. Their general domination was shown by their 60% share of possession of the ball on the first half. Dirk Kuyt also showed how he has been successfully converted to a good right winger as he sent quite a few decent crosses into the Danish penalty box throughout the first half. Meanwhile, Denmark played the dreaded 4-5-1 formation in which Nicklas Bendtner is the lone ranger up front with no support whatsoever when he does get the ball. Clearly, in the first half at least that Denmark are already focusing on Japan and Cameroon and only play this game to snatch a point against Holland, the strongest team in Group E.

As the second half started, Holland shifted into the high gears as they attacked right off the bat and caught Denmark flat-footed and shocked. A cross into the Danish penalty box was headed by S. Poulsen the Danish full back into his own net. His header was so perfect just like a great targetman, just that he scored at the wrong end of the pitch. An interesting thing to note was how S. Poulsen managed to have the guts to smile after the atrocious own goal. We could imagine how the press in Denmark, a country ranked first in the Free Press Index would roast him in tomorrow's papers.

By the time it was 60th minute, Nicklas Bendtner was withdrawn for a winger Beckmann. It showed that Denmark had thrown in the towel and simply looking forward to the Cameroon match which is the next match and the Japan match, the last one for them in Group E. Thus, they had to save Bendtner for those two matches by bringing him off early. On the other hand, the Dutch looked for the second and killer goal by bringing in the livewire Eljero Elia for the static and rigid van der Vaart, and the Dutch was augmented by the electric pace of his.

Eventually at the 84th minute, after Sneijder had hit the bar a few minutes before, Eljero Elia managed to wriggle through the Danish penalty area, hitting the post before Dirk Kuyt scored a tap-in from the rebound to make it 2-0 and just like how the commentator put it, “Good night Denmark”. At the 87th minute, S. Poulsen managed to make amends for his earlier mistake by saving a certain goal acrobatically. Nevertheless, The Dutch won by two clear goals and are now at the top of Group E. Now, the matches with Cameroon and Japan will be very crucial for Denmark if they are to go through from the group. Another trivia to note is that the record continues for Denmark that until now, they have yet to play out a goalless draw in the World Cup finals.

Serbia 0-1 Ghana World CUp 2010 Group D

2010-06-14T00:27:00.000+08:00

This match is the first match in which my prediction was totally spot-on in which I had predicted a 1-0 victory for Ghana against Serbia and turned out that it was really the case. Based on what I have observed in the match itself, this was a match between thesis and anti-thesis. Ghana have extreme pace and great strength as well as being more mobile on the pitch while Serbia was totally a rigid and solid wall at the back with systematic and solid attacking moves when they are attacking.

In the first half, Ghana's goalkeeper was the busier of the two as both teams attack each other in trying to break the deadlock. However, the aforementioned fact of this match being a battle between thesis and anti-thesis inadvertently cancel out each other and thus each team simply absorbs the others' attack. Thus, it was 0-0 at half-time.

The second half saw both teams becoming more intent with Ghana being denied a clear and legitimate penalty call as their player K. Asamoah was fouled quite heavily by two Serbian defenders. In this half, Ghana was the better attacking team as they continued to bombard Serbia's goal but they continued to fail to convert those chances into goals. Both teams tried to inspire changes by making substitutions but still, the deadlock was not to be broken.

The turning point of the match came at around the 73rd minute when the Serbian defender A. Lukovic was sent off as he received his second yellow card of the match. It seemed that the match was to become a carbon copy of the Group C match between Algeria and Slovenia earlier on the day. However, the Serbian manager in my opinion initiated a masterstroke substitution by introducing a defender, Nenad Subotic to replace the sent off defender by sacrificing Milan Jovanovic, an attacker. Thus, their formation became something like a 4-4-1 or 4-3-2 variant instead of trying to keep on attacking with a disoriented 3-4-2 formation for example. Thus, it could be seen that with the sending off, Serbia seemingly was not really affected. In fact, they attacked more and more valiantly and intensely.

At the 82nd minute, Ghana earned a penalty as the Serbian substitute Kusmanovic handled the ball deliberately to break a Ghanaian attack. Asamoah Gyan who had missed many chances in the game finally able to make the score 1-0 as the striker sent the Serbian keeper V. Stojkovic to the wrong way.

The slender 1-0 lead by Ghana proved to be quite precarious as in the last few minutes of the game, especially during the four minutes injury time of the game, Serbia was attacking in a very intense manner and just like how we have seen Liverpool FC when trailing in club football, there was signs of Serbia about to equalize at anytime by then. However, at the very last moments of the game, Asamoah Gyan managed to hit the post at the other end before being substituted with Quincy Owusu-Abeyle to earn his standing ovation from the Ghana fans as well as to run the clock down. Finally, Ghana managed to hold on to their slender lead and becomes the first African team to taste victory in World Cup 2010 and staking their claims to the knockout stages of the competition. While Serbia now needs to regroup swiftly as they tackler Germany next in which if they lose again, they will all be knocked out from the competition.

Algeria 0-1 Slovenia World Cup 2010 Group C

2010-06-13T21:49:00.000+08:00

Slovenia managed to make history by notching their first ever win in the World Cup finals at the expense of Algeria. There's not a lot to be taken notes of in this match as this match could have easily been a dour and boring 0-0 draw, save for the occasional chances from both teams as well as Slovenia defense's error which provoked their keeper Samir Handanovic's ire as well as the unnecessary fouls on Algeria's number 9 Ghezzal culminating to his silly sending off which arguably catalyzed Slovenia's victory in this match. It was an unfortunate and a wrong substitution made by Algeria's veteran coach Rabah Saadane. The flashy haired striker's first contribution on the pitch was a silly jersey pulling by the striker and his second yellow card was even sillier as he attempted a very twisted and silly version of Maradona's Hand of God by purposely touching the ball with his hand to just managed to lightly touch it as the ball was so far away from him. Slovenia immediately took advantage of the one man advantage as well as the fact that Algeria was shell-shocked as Robert Koren shortly scored with a rather soft shot which the Algerian keeper failed to catch and smother. That's the winning goal and now Slovenia is at the top of the Group C table.

PS: Robert Koren seemed to have attempted a low and soft shot as throughout the tournament, as well as throughout the Algeria vs Slovenia match, players have been trying to shoot from distance but the ball always flies way over the bar. Maybe it's right that the ball has an effect after all. Also, the ball's supposed “effects” will be scrutinized even more as England's Robert Green made a goalkeeping gaffe which allowed the USA to equalize in their match while Jabulani was made scapegoat.

Argentina 1-0 Nigeria World Cup 2010 Group B

2010-06-13T00:54:00.001+08:00

The second opening game for World Cup 2010 Group B was the match between Argentina and Nigeria. The match ended 1-0 to Argentina's favor, but in truth, it was a surprisingly very tight and well-balanced match in which I believe Nigeria was rather unfortunate on not being able to at least equalize. Prior to the match, both teams have had their respective plans laid out. Argentina started with the attacking trident of Higuain, Messi (who was given a free role), and Tevez. While Nigeria started out with Yakubu as their sole attacking lone spear but reinforced as the match wears on especially in the second half. Another interesting point is Juan Sebastian Veron's role in the Argentina squad as well as some players form both sides that attracted attention in the match. Since it is of no secrets by now that I am tipping Argentina to win this year's World Cup, the points which I will be making below are mostly about Argentina, but I will try my best to include things that caught my eyes from the Nigerian team in the match as well.

The match started as a high octane extreme attacking match with both teams attacking liberally, especially Argentina with the aforementioned attacking trident. After just 5 minutes, Argentina immediately scored through a really nice move. A corner kick resulting from Messi's stinging shot which was saved (the first of so many more in the game) was dispatched by Veron and then Gabriel Heinze appeared so suddenly and abruptly into the penalty area such that he was free to head the ball and he did just that to score the first and only goal in the match which turned out to be the winning goal for Argentina. However, unlike Greece in the previous Group B match, Nigeria wasn't really shocked with the early goal and maintained their high-gear approach of the game.

Another point to take note is Jonas Gutierrez. Although a lot of pundits criticized Maradona's decision to bring Jonas on board in favor of other who are supposedly more high profile such as Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso. The fact that he played in England's lower division with Newcastle in the recently concluded club season doesn't mean that he's not a great player. He was brimming with energy and passion in the game and since he played as a right back, he reminds me of Brazil's Maicon. He was practically everywhere on the pitch. When the team attacks, he's right in front ready to receive the ball and when he has the ball, he could be seen crossing to the strikers, but when the opponents launch a swift counterattack, Jonas is suddenly at the back again defending and trying to win back possession. The amazing thing is that he does that while completing the whole 90 minutes without any sign of tiring down and thus needing to be substituted or rested.

Another interesting point, as mentioned in the first paragraph is Veron's role in the squad. This is again the substantiation of the “pseudo-manager” effect which I have explained so many times by now and another bad sign for Germany since they have lost Michael Ballack, the player which has this role in the squad. Veron was the pseudo-manager in the squad, and thus might just be another of Maradona's concealed genius masterstrokes. In the match, whenever possible, it could be seen that Maradona was conveying instructions to Veron, and then in the match itself, Veron could be seen waving his arms, shouting commands to the players and the players seem to react according to the instructions, such as slowing or quickening the tempo of the match. Despite how much Maradona moved around the touchline barking instructions, a pseudo-manager such as Veron is still needed.

The second half started where the first one had left off with both teams continuing to operate on high gears. Argentina continued to dominate possession and the match with Tevez as the embodiment of the team's high octane approach. However, since Argentina failed to score that second and killer goal, Nigeria started to realize this and they immediately made two attacking substitutions with Peter Odemwingie and Obafemi Martins entering the fray. Nigeria's attack turned from a one tipped spear to become a trident with Martins, Yakubu and Odemwingie.

Exchanges of entertaining and heart-stopping counter-attacks ensued between the two teams with Nigeria's Taye Taiwo nearly equalized before injuring himself. Bad sign for Nigeria. But he was substituted with Kalu Uche, another striker, and by this time, about 10-15 minutes from the end of the game, Nigeria operated with four strikers on the pitch now in their quest to find the equalizer, and by now, Argentina started to get pinned back as they continued to fail to get another goal and Nigeria acquiring more and more belief as time passed. Perhaps it was due to the match ball, but Argentina's efforts continued to go over the bar (also observable in other matches). In any case, Nigeria crept closer and closer to scoring a goal.

Maradona seemed to realize the 4 engined Nigerian bombardment as well as his team's failure to score the second goal prompted him to make a defensive substitution after two attacking ones prior to this when he sent Nicolas Burdisso into the fray. Argentina continued to become shakier and shakier but they did manage to get to the Nigerian goal as Higuain was denied a penalty. In the dying minutes of the game, Nigeria continued their resilience and as many as six Nigerian players were committed to the attack at that time.

However, it wasn't enough as Argentina managed to hold on to their slender lead and start the World Cup campaign with a victory. For Nigeria, they have to snatch a victory and a draw at the very least against South Korea and Greece.

Meanwhile, for Argentina, they only have to draw or preferably defeat South Korea and/or Greece to ensure their qualification to the knockout stages. This is a great start for Argentina, and a preferable one as well in my humble opinion. This is so as Argentina managed to get off to a good start by winning their first match, but they don't peak too early just like themselves in 2006 and Spain traditionally in the World Cup.

S. Korea 2-0 Greece World Cup 2010 Group B

2010-06-12T23:58:00.000+08:00

It was the opening match for Group B in World Cup 2010 with South Korea facing Greece at the newly built Nelson Mandela bay stadium. Judging from both team's profiles, this match was expected to be a tight and cagey affair with both teams, especially the Greeks employing a defensive and cautious approach, and many including myself had expected this match to end all square with the scoreline of 1-1. Although two goals were indeed scored in the match, it wasn't to be a draw as South Korea snatched a massive 2-0 victory against the Greeks. It was the South Koreans' first victory in the World Cup outside of the Asian continent and also the first time they have won by 2 clear goals in the World Cup. This puts them in a very promising position to also go through from the World Cup Group Stage for the very first time outside of Asia.

Just like what we have seen in 2002, and if that World Cup was controversial (especially for Italians and Spaniards out there), we could even see in 2006 that there's undoubtedly something special in the South Korean squad. They somehow have some kind of winning aura surrounding them. When they play, somehow we know beforehand that they are going to do well in the match, and thus a high chance of getting a victory no matter the opposition. Based on my observation, especially after this victory against Greece, this South Korea team is a very industrious, solid, matured, and they have a really good team chemistry. This group of players almost have some kind of telepathic understanding with one another. Their players such as Park Ji-Sung, Cha Du-Ri, Park Chu-Young just to name three are really skillful and able players. We have seen how at first Jung-Soo scored the first goal with his head and defeating the supposedly bigger and taller Greek defenders. This dispelled the Asian physical inferiority myth. Park Ji-Sung's goal for South Korea's second and killer goal also substantiated the kind of world class player that he is, after leaving two Greek defenders out cold with his dazzling pace and skills as well as leaving the Greek goalkeeper scrambling for nothing more than bits of soil on the ground. The full backs consisting of the striker turned right back Cha Du-Ri and the evergreen Lee Young-Pyo augmenting the South Korean attack perfectly.

In contrast, the Greek team seemed tired, old, and clumsy. A good analogy, especially in conjunction with their style of play would be that they are just like an artillery-worn and crumbling defensive wall. They no longer able to showcase their famed rigid defending which would draw any oppositions into submission such as how they showed the world in their Euro 2004 triumph, let alone showing the world how they were able to win matches by 1-0 scoreline which delivered the Euro trophy as well as shooting them to fame.

The Greeks were leaking goals, and thus it would totally deprived them of their only way to play and win the football game, in which to defend staunchingly until the enemy is worn out and then to score one unexpected goal from either a corner kick or a free kick. Since they were leaking goal, and since they don't really have a plan B, there's no way that Greek could win this game or any football game for that matter. Their lack of a back up plan and ways to get back into the match in general.

Also, if the South Korean players had their way in their barrages towards the Greek goal in the last ten minutes or so, it could have easily been a shameful thrashing by the Koreans. Thus, Greek's World Cup scoring curse continues on as they have yet to find that first goal in the competition.

Now, South Korea is in a great position to go through from Group B as they only need to at least get one more point from the remaining two games, and not to take away anything from Nigeria, but it is attainable to get a point or even more from Nigeria and of course not ruling out an upset against Argentina if they have their way. As for Greece, things look bleak for now unless they are able to overturn their low morale and could formulate a great plan B in time for their remaining two games against Argentina and Nigeria.

South Africa 1-1 Mexico Opening Match of World Cup 2010

2010-06-12T00:33:00.001+08:00

The much anticipated World Cup 2010 is finally here to embrace all of us! Before I get to my take on the opening match proper, I'll take time to explain a little about the saying “Out with the old, in with the new”. Before I started to watch the match, I switched on my modern LCD TV, looking forward to watch the opening match between hosts South Africa and Mexico in comfort. However, I looked in horror as the complementary cable TV subscription that I have got cruelly jam the channel that is supposed to broadcast the World Cup matches. What to do? It is complementary after all. But I almost broke down as I was about to miss the World Cup. But then, I remember about the old, decades old small TV that is lying somewhere at the corner of the house, being ignored in favor of the sexier, sleeker LCD TV. Immediately I switched on that TV, praying so hard that it has a good reception, and that it is still working in the first place. Thank God or whoever is up there as the TV does work and it was about the start of the match. Moral of the story? Do not forget the seemingly old and outdated stuff that you have. Those are the very things which would help you immensely when you are faced with massive difficulties, just like what I had experienced. So back to the match, it was the opening match between the hosts South Africa and Mexico. It ended in a 1-1 stalemate in the lively full house Soccer City stadium.

The match started with Mexico attacking so aggressively. Perhaps, just perhaps, it's because of the fact that the Mexican players were wearing their black colored kits, and thus at the start of the match, they were as slick as the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. They really penetrated the South African defense and creating chances early on.

The hosts South Africa on the other hand seemed to be either overwhelmed by the occasion or perhaps they were really overwhelmed by the massive pressure when everyone inside the stadium, as well as the millions or even billions watching at home or elsewhere on TV or anything of that sort are fixed on them. Everyone wants to see how the hosts fare, and how they start their World Cup campaign and to fulfill the very first hurdle in the tournament, which is to avoid becoming the very first World Cup hosts to be knocked out in the Group Stage. I would say the way they started the match is just like how we flunk really badly in video games and/or arcade games when there are so many people looking at the way we play, and to be able to play really well when everyone's gone.

One Mexican player that has taken little time to show the world how talented he really is after such a roller-coaster season in which he was sent on loan to Ipswich from his club Tottenham. The way he waltzed through the pitch dazzling and dizzying the South African defenders, as well as the hairstyle and hairband, caused me to mistake him for Ronaldinho in 2005-06. Guillermo Franco also did quite well as a targetman getting the end of crosses and corner kicks, but they didn't manage to score.

After the first 30 minutes, South Africa increasingly settled into the game, but it was still insufficient as there was simply no way through for them and that their passes were still disarrayed. In the first half, the hosts were really pinned back by the slick and silky skilled Mexicans and the possession at one time was at 61% for Mexico. The half ended with Mexico creating good chances but they failed to take it except for when Carlos Vela managed to score but it was correctly chalked offside. Looking at how both sides shoot the ball way over the bar, it was perhaps safe to say that both teams were saved by the much criticized Jabulani ball in this half. Personally, I have two balls at home. One is the Jabulani, and one is another type. I tested both balls, and realized that Jabulani does bounce and fly around much easier and much further than the other ball.

The second half started where the first one left off, but at the 55th minute, South Africa managed to launch a very swift counter-attacking motion totally against the run of play which culminated in South African Thsabalala scoring a wonderful goal to cap the swift attacking move off. From this moment onwards, Mexico seemed to be so shaken by that swift goal and for a good twenty minutes or so, their play resembles how the gameplay works for the later versions of the PES (Winning Eleven Game). Perhaps it was also because of the deafening and buzzing Vuvuzelas in the stadium, in which a family member in the house complained about the sound, and the Mexicans might have been disturbed as well by the continuing sound. Well, Don't get me wrong, perhaps I am the one being bad in the PES games, but to describe how Mexico played for the period of time, it's just like when you try to make a good through pass to your attacker who is perfectly placed to make a good run to receive the pass, and suddenly, for reasons unknown, the computer's defender jumps like a leopard and stops the ball and thus taking possession to launch a counter-attack. It happens all the time, and that's what happened to Mexico. South Africa even nearly managed to score the second and arguably the killer goal. However, thanks to the fact that South Africa didn't manage to kill the game off, and also thanks to a masterstroke substitution by Mexico's manager Javier Aguirre just after the hosts' goal. Right after the goal, Carlos Vela was substituted with Cuauhtemoc Blanco, a 37 year old Mexican legend.

The move seemed to be puzzling as Blanco looks quite out of shape, and he doesn't move really much, and he looks really tired and unfit. But that's where the masterstroke was. Mexico was in a disarray, and an influential figure was urgently needed to restore order and morale on the pitch, and entered Blanco to do just that. Cameras in the match managed to show how Blanco started to bark instructions to the rest of the players right after he entered the pitch. Everything takes time, and Mexico to calm themselves also needs time. But slowly but surely, they managed to return to their silky and slick play from the first half. Blanco's effects on the Mexican team also substantiates my earlier argument about how a team needs a pseudo-manager to calm and spur the team on when the tough gets going and the going gets tough. (the previous post about Michael Ballack's absence in the German squad). Thus, judging from how Blanco “resurrected” Mexico that dangerously faded away shows how Germany must be fretting over how they are missing that pseudo-manager figure in their squad.

True enough, the revitalization of the Mexicans culminated in an equalizer on the 79th minute. At this time, the Mexicans were still a bit shaky, but they won a corner. Cuauhtemoc Blanco united with Giovani dos Santos in an inter-generation link play from the corner, and the youngster curled a very beautiful pass to the awaiting Rafael Marquez, and largely no thanks to the sparse South African defense in the penalty area, Marquez had all the time in his world to take aim and to slot the ball past Khune, the South African keeper.

The last 10 minutes was also interesting and entertaining as both sides continued to commit to attacking each other to win this game. Mexico further augmented by the Manchester United bound Javier Hernandez while South Africa, perhaps it's because of a sense of urgency and also because of Mexico committing many players in front, managed to get their chances to attack each other, especially South Africa in the dying minutes of the game through Mphela who almost scored the winner but unfortunately hit the post.

The match ended 1-1 and as far as the hosts are concerned, now they have to grab a victory either against France or Uruguay to ensure that they go through to the next round and void the unwanted distinction as the first host nation knocked out from the Group Stage of the World Cup.

Likelihood of an African World Cup 2010 Winner (Part 2/2)

2010-06-11T10:40:00.001+08:00

By now, it would be noticed that the host nation South Africa has yet to be featured. Don't worry, it is not that I have forgotten about the hosts themselves amid the hysteria surrounding the star-studded teams. That's not to say the Bafana Bafana is not star-studded though. The South African team is the most locally represented out of the rest of the six African teams in the competition, but they are augmented by a few superstars in the squad such as the 101 capped Aaron Mokoena and 50 capped Steven Pienaar, just to name two of the most known members of the Bafana Bafana. Although many pundits and fans alike have condemned Bafana Bafana to be the very first host country in the World Cup history to be knocked out from the Group Stage, we must not underestimate South Africa as well as the advantages that they are going to have as a host nation.

In the World Cup, or any other huge competitions for that matter, underdogs usually go to overdrive mode while the top teams might churn up a sub-par performance, although it's not so apparent such that the semi-finals consist of four underdogs, but it's still playing a huge role in the competition. Besides, South Africa is coached by an experienced Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and thus he is able to navigate his way through the toughness of the World Cup as he has been there before when he won the 1994 World Cup. Thus, I won't be surprised if South Africa survives the Group Stage or even winning Group A altogether. Besides, Group A is not that tough a group. France huffed and puffed their way through qualification, and many would argue that they avoided failure to qualify to the World Cup no thanks to FIFA's last minute seeding of the play-off teams in the European zone of qualification as well as the infamous Hand of Henry. Uruguay, just like France is not a team at top form and is as shaky as the French. Also, just like the French, they are only in the World Cup no thanks to an offside goal in their own play-off match against Costa Rica. The last participant in Group A, and South Africa's first opponent in the tournament's opening game, Mexico has just survived a total destruction under the ill-fated regime of Sven Goran Eriksson. The trauma won't dissipate that shortly, and also, it is a team pretty much in transition. Thus, it is pertinent to note that South Africa might spring a few surprises in their vuvuzela fuelled campaign on home soil. Also, I dare say that in South Africa's campaign, which I would say that they would at least get to the last 16 or even go to the quarter finals or even the semi finals with a stroke of luck or two, it won't be just all about Aaron Mokoena and Steven Pienaar. There will be other players in the South African squad who would emerge from the shadows to let the whole world notice their talents, and it is likely that these stars will be poached by top European clubs after the World Cup. Whether they will be the El Hadji-Dioufs and the Salif Diaos of this world, it is another thing altogether, but nevertheless, expect a few stars or two from the Bafana Bafana to earn themselves lucrative transfers to top European clubs after the World Cup.

The last team, and the one which I think the most likely African team to go furthest and even win the whole thing is Cameroon. As far as star names is concerned, Cameroon possesses at least one recognizable and proven star name in each position. In goal, they have Carlos Idriss Kameni, a proven reliable goalkeeper in La Liga. In defence, they have the ever reliable Rigobert Song and the solid Sebastian Bassong. In Midfield, they have the commanding and imposing Jean II Makoun. In attack, medals attracting Samuel Eto'o needs no introduction. Also, Cameroon's squad consists of players who are at the peak of their powers (ie. Between the age of 26-30+) and that every single one of them, exept for the youngster Vincent Aboubakar, ply their trades in top European clubs in top European leagues. Their manager, Paul Le Guen is also a recognizable name in world football and also he has been in charge of Cameroon since 2009. Thus, this squad is relatively stable and with the players at the peak of their powers eager to live up their nickname the “Indomitable Lions” will look forward to be indomitable and also to dominate everything and anything standing in their path to glory. Their Group is also a relatively easy group and expect them to beat the shaky Denmark and Japan, and they might even do a Senegal and shock Netherlands as well as the world and top the group. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, expect Cameroon to be this World Cup's Senegal and go all the way to the quarter finals at least and even if they are not able to win the World Cup, I won't rule out Samuel Eto'o collecting yet one more medal even if that medal is the bronze medal. Nevertheless, history would have been made for Africa if that happens. Also, despite everyone claiming that Eto'o has started to dwindle and that they cite Mourinho moving him back to play on the flanks for Inter in the recently concluded club season, I would still say that at 29, Eto'o is still pretty much at the peak of his powers, and he will play really well as a striker for his country and he will score plenty of goals as Cameroon charges for glory!

Likelihood of an African World Cup 2010 Winner (Part 1/2)

2010-06-10T22:08:00.001+08:00

One day before the much anticipated and awaited World Cup 2010, the very first World Cup held in Africa. Just like People's Republic of China in 2008 Olympic games, this is the time for South Africa, a country that had a bleak reputation for its notorious Apartheid era, to show to the world just how they have gone from such a bleak era to rapid, harmonious, and stable growth. Same goes to the African continent in general, this is the event to show the world that Africa is on par with the rest of the world. The greatest footballer but not so great predictor Pele had predicted before the turn of the century that the world will be seeing an African Champion right after the aforementioned turn of the century, which is 2002 World Cup. But, a decade into the 21st century, we have yet to see a World champion hailing from a continent other than Europe and South America. Since this World Cup is one which is finally staged in Africa, we might well see the first African team to win the arguably pinnacle of International football. Six African teams, dubbed the “Six-Pack” by pundits all over the world will be vying to be the first nation to win the World Cup as well as to become the first African country(s) to surpass Cameroon's record in 1990 to go beyond the quarter-finals. These teams are (in no particular order for now) Algeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana, hosts South Africa, and last but not least Nigeria. These countries have gone a long way in football and a look at their squad would reveal names of players who are so familiar to all of us football fans such as Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Kameni, and many more. It seems that everything has been set in stone for an African country to win the World Cup on African soil. It would be even more romantic than Mourinho's Champions League triumph in his new club's stadium. Assuming that an African country is poised to win the World Cup, which of the six countries are the likeliest to win the competition? It would be analyzed below from the least likely team to win it to the most likely African team to win it.

The first African team, and the one least likely to win the World Cup is Algeria. Starting from the household names, Algeria have the least number of household names in comparison to the other countries. The biggest names in this Algerian squad are Karim Ziani of Wolfsburg and Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda of Portsmouth (the latter on loan from Benfica). That's not to say that players' reputation alone will be the sole factor of a team's success in the World Cup, but on paper, that's the case. While there's no denying that Algeria has done a lot to reach South Africa judging from their amazing qualification campaign in which they had exhausted all tie-breakers in the group with Egypt to determine who qualifies to the World Cup and thus had to play Egypt one more time in a neutral venue (later determined to be Sudan). That was the last thing that both countries want as they had fought cataclysmic battles in the two matches against each other and also marred with extreme crowd troubles. The last match was won by Algeria, again in a very controversial and marred with crowd troubles, although the Egyptians would get their revenge in the African Nations Cup 2010 in Angola when they beat the Algerians 4-0 en route to their triumph in Angola. In any case, Algeria will be in the World Cup, and their group will not be easy. They have been drawn with England, USA, and Slovenia. This group is expected to be a foregone conclusion as England and USA are massive favorites to clinch the 1st and 2nd place respectively to progress to the last 16. Rabah Saadane will have to utilize his tactical prowess and vast footballing experience in order to spring an upset and knock one of the favorites (England or USA) and progress to the next round to go on to win the whole thing. Although they might well go through if they are able to clinch a victory against Slovenia in their opening match and at least grab 1 point from their subsequent encounters with USA and England. Even that is already unlikely, and even if they manage to do the impossible and go through to the last 16, they might well be knocked out against the likes of Germany or Australia or Serbia. Thus, although anything can happen in football, it would be a task too tall to go beyond the quarter finals, let alone winning the World Cup. Well, unless Pele suddenly publicly predicts that Algeria will be the whipping boys of Group C, and they might well win the World Cup!!! (Curse of Pele, infamous and well documented football “curse”)

The second least likely team to win the World Cup is none other than Nigeria. But they have a much bigger chance than Algeria to do so, that's for sure. Their hopes will hinge on players such as Obafemi Martins, Peter Odemwingie, Aiyegbeni Yakubu, and the aging but the ever reliable Kanu. The Super Eagles have not been soaring in world football of late. Missing the last edition of World Cup with frequent changes in management and various other problems such as difficulties in unearthing new Nigerian superstars. Although the Super Eagles might have been experiencing a renaissance of late, clinching the third place in the African Nations Cup 2010, the frequent management changes still go on as the previous manager Shaibu Amodu was sacked despite the third place finish and the Swede Lars Lagerback was appointed in February. Despite having quite a solid squad with a few eyebrow raising names in the squad, the fact that they don't have that “X-Factor” especially in the form of a new prodigy entering the scene as well as an established megastar in the squad, and also compounded by the fact that the manager only has 3 full months before the tournament proper to get to know all the players in the squad as well as trying to acclimatize himself to them, and also imparting his footballing philosophies to his players. There are too many problems in the Nigerian squad for them to win this World Cup. Although Group B is quite an open group with the seemingly erratic Argentina (although I beg to differ), South Korea and Greece. In any case, it is going to be hard with their key player John Obi Mikel injured. In my opinion, it is an open battle for South Korea, Greece, and Nigeria to fight it out to join Argentina to go through to the next round. However, despite what I said earlier about how Nigeria have a bigger chance than Algeria to win this one, but that's purely based on logic and paper analysis. Also, even if they are really more likely to triumph, it would still be too much for them to even match Cameroon 1990's progress to the quarter-finals, let alone winning the World Cup, just like how I concluded for Algeria previously.

Next is Ivory Coast, an African team I would consider to be the England of Africa. Star-studded: check. Overrated: check, Perennial favorites: check, wilting when everyone expects them to shine: check, Sven Goran Eriksson: CHECK! That's Ivory Coast for you. Don't get me started to list the big names that they have, before I could even mash my keyboards, I am already so starstruck that I am stunned! Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Aruna Dindane, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho, the list goes on and on and on! Ask any ordinary fans out there about the title of this article, and I believe every single one of them would point out that Ivory Coast is by far the most likely African team to triumph, and they might even suggest that Ivory Coast will certainly win the World Cup 2010! However, from history, their patterns in the past tournament which prompted me to place the “England of Africa” tag on them Ivory Coast will fall short of expectations. If you expect them to win the World Cup, they would fall in the quarter finals, if you expect them to go through comfortably to the last 16, they would be humiliated in the Group Stage. In terms of firepower and star names, Ivory Coast have everything. Just like their nickname, they are like a giant indomitable elephant that will steamroll over anything and everything. But just like the real elephant which loses to small ants, Ivory Coast is also prone to be shocked by teams that they expect to beat comfortably (North Korea for this case). Also, if Lars Lagerback has 3 months before the start of the World Cup, his fellow Swede Sven Goran Eriksson only has less than 2 months to get used to the Ivory Coast squad and for the squad to get used to him and his style. This will certainly further impede the country's chances of finally living up to their expectations and sheer star-studdedness and firepower. One more thing which would impede them is the fact that just like in World Cup 2006, they are once again drawn in the competition's Group of Death with massive favorites Brazil and Portugal (to go through to the next round at least) and the unknown quantity and potential surprise package North Korea. No matter what, it is really hard to see both Brazil and Portugal go through to the next round of the competition. If all of these are still not enough, Ivory Coast still have one more problem, one which many would argue the biggest problem of them all. Didier Drogba , the player expected to be the sole bastion of hope for Ivory Coast to succeed suffered a broken right elbow in the recent warm-up match against Japan. Although he is expected to recover on time and the worst is for him to miss their first match against Portugal, it is enough to kill Ivory Coast's hopes of going through the group. Even if Drogba recovers on time, a player who has just recovered from an injury will not be at 100%, and it would be too much for Drogba, or any player for that matter to carry the weight of a nation on his own. Besides, totally depending on a 32 year old who might be featuring in his last ever World Cup in his career, superstar he might be, to bring the country to World Cup glory is not a good sign. Just like Nigeria and Algeria especially, they would do well to survive the Group Stage, and they are not somewhere in the first two paragraphs only because of the fact that they are in the Group of Death. Too bad Ivory Coast...

Next is Ghana. The Black Stars have enjoyed a meteoric rise to the footballing elites mainly due to their strong exploits in World Cup 2006 and also strong European contingent such as Sulley Ali Muntari, Stephan Appiah, and Michael Essien. Also, their under-20 team (the Black Satellites) have recently just clinched the World Under-20 title. Signs of big things to come for the West African nation? Not so easy. Their players' reputation cannot be undoubted. I would say they are even close to on par with Ivory Coast. But, just like Ivory Coast and Nigeria, Ghana is also feeling the brunt of the “Chelsea World Cup curse” as just like Ivory Coast, Ghana will not be with the player who is carrying the nation's weight on his own, Michael Essien. It is even worse as unlike Ivory Coast, Essien will be missing the whole tournament. Also, just like Ivory Coast, they are in a difficult group with Germany, Australia, and Serbia. This group is as open as it could be, in which in my opinion, any permutations and combinations of those teams can pan out at the end of the three match-days of the group. However, I would say that as much as they are likely to go far in the tournament, Ghana is also likely to fall short in the Group Stage. Why? The main reason is that although many people are still under the illusion of the fluid and great looking Ghana team in 2006, we have to accept that in four years time between two World Cups anything could happen and so much at that. One example would be that Adriano was tipped to be the next best player in the world in 2006, and now Adriano is considered a wasted player trying to rescue his fledgling and shaky career. Just like that, and thus, this Ghana team is now in a transition period between the old guards of 2006 and the new guards mostly consisting of the players featured in the under-20 triumph. Transition periods are never fun, again just ask Arsene Wenger, and thus Ghana is no exception. A glance at the current Ghana squad reveals a seemingly eclectic combination of the old guards and the new boys. However, in the actual fact, the transition from old to new is not that smooth, as there's a gaping gap between the group of old guards and the new boys. The former is a group of aging players with alarming dip in form, especially Stephan Appiah, and even the usually reliable keeper Richard Kingson has been labelled “shaky” in recent times. On the other hand, the new boys from the under-20 team who have just been promoted to the senior squad are too raw and inexperienced to feature at this level. I mean, winning a youth tournament is one thing, but winning a proper senior tournament is another thing altogether. Besides, it is too early to judge the potential of the players as there have been so many players all over the world who have starred in the youth championships, but failed to make the next step to superstardom and they settle to become average and mediocre players instead. Even if they do have the potential to become world beaters, their current ability at this stage will not enable them to excel at the senior level, not so soon. One notable example would be Real Madrid's Royston Drenthe. Thus, this team would need another 4 years at least to get over the transition period properly, then if the players from the under-20 triumphant squad really fulfill their potentials, then Ghana can dream of winning the World Cup in Brazil, but definitely not this year. Just like Ivory Coast, even going through the Group Stage is not a shoe-in. Thus, even Ghana, as one of the favorites are not really favorites and I would not be surprised if they are knocked out early despite all the hype.

North Korea's Extra Striker/Keeper

2010-06-09T11:10:00.002+08:00

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will go to the World Cup 2010 as one of the most interesting teams of all time. As we know, DPRK is not an ordinary country, it is the only country in the world which is currently still adopting a total Soviet style command economy. Also, it is branded by the USA and its allies as a rogue state and also accused of building up an arsenal of nuclear weapons to wreak havoc in this world. South Korea also recently accused North Korea of sinking one of their ships. In football, North Korea is as mysterious and intriguing as the country's domestic and international affairs. Nothing much is known about this team besides their star striker Jong Tae-Se (dubbed “The People's Rooney”) who is playing in Japan's J-League and virtually nothing is known about their domestic league let alone the individual teams in which a bulk of the North Korean squad are playing at (Such as Amrokgang and April 25 clubs). Even the football team has also been accused of a “rogue team” by some pundits in the media recently as Kim Jong Hun, their manager called up Kim Myong-Won, a striker and registered him as the third choice goalkeeper. Many accused North Korea of trying to circumvent the squad rules by registering an extra keeper to get an extra attacking option. It seems to have backfired as FIFA recently ruled out that the striker would only be allowed to play as a goalkeeper and not as an outfield player. Has the move really backfired? If so, what are the North Koreans going to do to once again circumvent the latest FIFA ruling imposed on them?

First up, the latest FIFA ruling might have been the death knell to whatever North Korea was planning by calling up Kim Myong-Won. This scenario hinges on the fact that North Korea has been busted as FIFA has seen through their plan and prevented them from having an advantage of having an extra striker compared to the rest of the teams that call up three goalkeepers into their squads. At the time of writing, the manager seems to be okay with the ruling and has gone on to include the striker as a goalkeeper as per FIFA's ruling. It might mean that Kim Myong-Won, at the age of 26, would become this World Cup's Theo Walcott. Fans are sure to remember when Sven Goran Eriksson called up Theo Walcott into England's squad in 2006 and he did not even play for a single minute in the tournament. Thus, since Kim Myong-Won can only play as a goalkeeper, he might just be consigned to watching North Korea from the bench as it is very unlikely in the World Cup that the first and second choice goalkeepers are both injured and thus there's a need for the third choice to be called to action.

However, even if the striker can only play as a goalkeeper, the North Korean manager might still have or or more aces in his sleeve. A pundit in one of the top soccer websites claimed that Myong-Won might be fielded as a goalkeeper in the tournament and just like how Kim Jong-il is being accused of keeping a “secret weapon”, the striker would also be fielded as a “secret weapon”, especially during the dying minutes of the game when North Korea would need an extra man for corner kicks and free kicks just like how any goalkeepers, in which Peter Schmeichel is the most notable would do at the last minute (and he scored). However, if this scenario does pan out in the tournament, I would add to that pundit's opinion that if the striker really plays as a goalkeeper, he would run forward in any corner kick and free kick to get that extra finishing edge while a defender would probably be assigned at the back to guard the goal against a long punt towards the otherwise be empty goal.

Another scenario that might even pan out would be for Myong-Won to take a leaf straight out of Rene Higuita's book and simply juts employ a gung-ho approach and participate in the attack as often as possible. In other words, just like how the aforementioned pundit mentioned, it might not a leaf out of Rene Higuita, but from a much bigger book, the Total Football! It would be interesting to see North Korea play with 12 men like that, but it could work two ways. First, North Korea might be lauded as the team which attempts to revive the great Dutch team of old and even going one step further as the goalkeeper is now involved in the outfield play, or secondly, if what happened to Rene Higuita in World Cup 1990 against Cameroon happens again, North Korea would become the clown and the total laughing stock of the tournament.

Perhaps, we can even take the leaf out of the USA's book and accuse Kim Jong-Hun, the manager, as a rogue manager, just like how North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong-il is always being accused of being rogue. Perhaps, the scenarios listed above are just too bombastic and exaggerated. Perhaps, Kim Jong-Hun was just executing a dark ploy by North Korea to simply create controversies and generally wreak havoc of the tournament. Or perhaps going even murkier, it is perhaps a form of psychological manipulation in North Korea's part in their preparations to try to go through a group of death consisting of Ivory Coast, Portugal, and Brazil. In my opinion, any forms of mind games or anything of that sort is even understandable as North Korea is embarking in their “Mission Impossible”. I mean, if Thierry Henry and his team got away scot-free for the extreme atrocity against all Irish people, I am sure it is okay as well for North Korea to employ a little psychological operation in the World Cup to try to gain as much ground and cutting edge as possible to try to negotiate their World Cup group.

In any case, whichever scenario really pans out in the World Cup, it will surely be a very interesting, intriguing, and memorable World Cup for all North Koreans as their country finally deserves the kind of spotlight that they deserve after all those political turmoils that have been surrounding them since the Korean War all the way until now (the war is still technically ongoing as there's no peace treaty whatsoever since the Korean War). Also, the world in general will finally also be able to view the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in such a different and positive light compared to what the media that they are exposed to have been denouncing and condemning them all the time. Let us all enjoy the DPRK's performance in this World Cup and for one, I am certainly looking forward to the DRPK springing even more surprises than 1966.

Effects of Ballack's Absence on Germany

2010-06-08T10:46:00.001+08:00

It was FA Cup Final 2010 between table toppers Chelsea and table proppers Portsmouth. It was surprisingly a very tight and somehow entertaining contest in which Chelsea won thanks to a marvelous free kick by Didier Drogba. Everyone associated with Chelsea celebrated their Double well into the night and well into the start of next season. However, not everyone in the Chelsea camp celebrates though. Michael Ballack, the player who is supposed to lead the Germany squad out as their Captain in World Cup 2010 in South Africa went down injured after a heavy tackle/stamp by Portsmuth's Kevin Prince-Boateng. It was then confirmed that Ballack's chances of his final shot at the World Cup ended with a wimp. This also prompted the conspiracy theories to pop up like an algal bloom as Kevin Prince-Boateng is Ghana's key player, the country which has been drawn in Group D together with Germany. This is also fueled further when Kevin's father claimed that Kevin has had altercations with Ballack before and that was the “pay back time”. In any case, Ballack's out, and the “Nationalmansschaft” (pardon my best attempt at German) will sorely miss their Captain. But what are the possible effects of Ballack's absence on the somewhat new look German side on transition from a generation to the next?

First up, Ballack's absence would certainly rob a wealth of big game experience from him. In football, as a player ages, what he loses, such as pace, acceleration, and strength are all converted into experience, leadership, and match-reading capabilities. While it is true that the modern game increasingly rely on raw pace and sheer youth thanks to the popularity of the English Premier League, we have to realize that in any big tournament such as the World Cup, or any big competitions for that matter, a team needs veterans in their team. Just like how Arsene Wenger would slowly realize, “you win nothing with kids”, and that has been proven time and time again. This is not to say that a manager should do a Lippi and select only the senior citizens of football and ignore the new and excited “kids and prodigies”, but the aforementioned raw pace and youthful brilliance in the team should be complemented and augmented by a witty and experienced veteran as a balancing act and as a calming and driving figure when things get tough and the tough gets going. The veteran's role, even if limited on the physical side of the game itself could be crucial either when the team is frustratingly failing to break down a staunch defense of an underdog or when the team is trailing against a big gun, especially at half time in which the veteran such as Ballack could deliver that edge through a supplemental team talk in the dressing room or even a simple but magical encouragement shouts on the pitch. Also, a huge figure such as Ballack would send chills down the opponents' spines when the announcer announces his name on the team sheet prior to the match, and it would even trigger a change to their original plan in the attempt to stop the mighty Ballack. During a penalty kick and/or penalty shoot-outs, his huge reputations which have been garnered throughout his long and eventful career would send goalkeepers, especially the young ones into a groggy spell which increases Ballack's chance to score from the spot by manifolds. Thus, on and off the pitch, Ballack's experience and sheer presence will be sorely missed by Germany and the effects would show when Germany is low on morale and ideas when trying to break through a tough spell in the tournament.

The second effect would be the very fact that once Ballack is always Ballack. What I am trying to say is that, we should forget about his advancing age, Michael Ballack is a world class player and few if any could doubt that fact. True, he might not be the same player as 5-6 years ago for instance, but form is temporary, class is permanent. I might add, class is permanent, and everything else, is temporary. True, age has a debilitating effect to any person, let alone professional athletes, but they can evolve their roles while still retaining the world class edge. For example, del Piero reverting to a more withdrawn role and becoming more of a super-sub in his later years, or Roy Keane from an all encompassing midfielder to solely a defensive midfielder prior to his retirement, or Zidane from an energetic, tireless playmaker to a more static playmaker in the mould of Juan Roman Riquelme just to name a few. Ballack is no exception. Even if his role is to be limited to the aforementioned psychological effects through his sheer presence and penalty taking, I dare say that both of them need skills to be implemented. The first one is of course as mentioned above, have to be accumulated throughout a world class career, while the latter, as much as it is easy on the eye, is not, and a combination of years of practice and perfection with the player's innate talents are needed to be a perfect penalty taker. Thus, forget about age, as no matter what Ballack is still a world class player, and even if critics continue to state that Ballack will be nothing more than a deadwood on the pitch waiting for penalties to steal all the good show, so be it. It has been proven that a simple penalty shot can mean the difference between World Cup glory and shameful runners-up status. Just ask Roberto Baggio and David Trezeguet. Thus, a loss of an aged Ballack is as good as a loss of Ballack of 5-6 years ago. It will never change. For another evidence of this, just take France in the last World Cup in 2006. The hapless and erratic France managed to go all the way to the final of the world cup and only a penalty shot away from World Cup Glory. Why? It was good old Zidane, who carried the sheer weight of the whole of France in the manner of Atlas, the Greek mythology figure, and carried them all the way to the final, but alas, he also carried France all the way to the aforementioned shameful runners-up tag no thanks to “THAT” particular headbutt. But that's another debate for another occasion. The fact that Michael Ballack will miss this World Cup might mean that Germany has missed out on either one of the gold and silver or even bronze medals of the World Cup 2010.

The third effect, still emphasizing how important Ballack is to Germany, is the fact that as a senior figure and respected captain, Ballack would serve as the uniting and driving figure in the dressing room of the new look German squad. New and young faces in the squad such as Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Mesut Oezil, and Jerome Boateng are no doubt world class players who have bright futures ahead of them. But still, in this kind of tournament where every touch, every run, and every tingle of bad or good luck count, these youngsters can't do it all on their own. They need a huge figure to guide them along the tournament, to straighten their ways if they somehow stray during the tournament, to drive them on, to encourage them when things get tough for them, and also to facilitate the transition from the old to the new. Without Ballack, it is okay if Germany could have 5-0 thrashings all the way to the final, these youngsters will have no problems at all. But World Cup is nothing like that. Every match is difficult, and teams need to be in their proverbial 110% in every single match, and any decrease from that would result in a knock out. These youngsters are not yet stable mentally and physically, especially the former. Thus, when the squad is low on morale, especially if their first and even second match in the group stage doesn't go well and they can't fully control their destiny, these youngsters might even crumble, break down, and go on to lose the third match which would undoubtedly send a whole country into a long mourning. Thus, when this is the case, the figure of a pseudo-manager in Michael Ballack could change all this, and drive them on to still give their very best for the third match and they might sneak through and even go on to win the whole thing. The difference between Ballack and no Ballack is as huge as it could be. Just look at Arsenal. Youthful squad without a calming figure in the mold of Patrick Vieira results in literally nothing but cobwebs in the trophy cabinet.

However, despite the fact that the youngsters in the squad need a guiding hand in the form of Ballack who leads by example on and off the pitch, all of us have to accept that this is the end of an era. Time for the baton to be passed from the old guards to the new and exuberant youths. Ballack's absence might even be a blessing in disguise as it might better facilitate the transition better as they would need to step up to the plate and be counted and to be able to replace the legend. A new leader might even emerge from the pool of youths and be the next big thing in the new generation, and the chances of this is quite high as the vacuum left by Ballack would suck these youths in to step out of their comfort zones and write their own destiny and history. In any case, it is not certain and could go two ways. Either Germany do an Arsenal and crumble when it matters most due to the inexperience youngsters being unable to take the strain of the toughness of the competition, or a new superstar and a new leader could emerge from the ashes of the old generation and lead Germany forward to a brighter future.

Thus, although the absence of Ballack proves to be a massive blow to Germany, we have to stop looking at present, and look to the future. It is pertinent that Germans and everyone in the world for that matter to accept the fact that generations change overtime, and especially in football where that change occurs in a much faster rate than other aspects of life. Now, it is up to the youngsters in the new look German squad to step up, be counted, and daringly and gracefully step into the void left by their injured captain. Even if the newly emerged leader fails to hold on and still crumble, there's nothing to be ashamed of as the ground has been laid for a new and bright future for Germany. If they can't win it in 2010, and if a new leader indeed emerges out of the ashes of failure, Germans all over the world are able to rejoice in the knowledge and realization that they will be back with a bang in 2014 and finally win their fourth world cup, and that joy could even arrive much earlier in Euro 2012! In any case, it is now up to the youngsters in the German Squad to control and write their own destiny.

Reasons against Spain winning World Cup 2010

2010-05-25T17:20:00.001+08:00

After the Champions League Final festivities have settled, it's now back to the anticipation and perhaps anxiety towards the long awaited World Cup 2010. Recently, I tried to do a survey on a sample of football fans. Due to mainly financial, resources, and time constraints, I only managed to survey 10 football fans. I simply asked each and everyone of them which country he/she thinks is going to win the World Cup. Amazingly, 9 out of 10 answered Spain as the country that is going to continue their recent supremacy in the world and grab the famous Jules Rimet trophy in South Africa, while the odd one out voted Brazil as the winner. This shows how Spain is seemingly a shoe-in to win this year's edition of the World Cup and that the roles of the other teams in the competition is reduced to basically to make up the numbers of 32 participants. But to them, Spain is the only one in the competition, and their triumph is a given. Is it that easy? Despite the overwhelming response favoring Spain, I believe even if I had increased the sample size to 100, I would still get at least 90 responses favoring Spain. But I beg to differ, in fact, I don't think Spain is capable of winning this one and as what I have been mentioning many times, I am tipping Argentina to win this one. The following are the reasons why Spain will not win this edition of the World Cup.

The very first reason is also the most obvious. Spain is simply the overwhelming favorites to win the competition. World Cup history suggests that the overwhelming favorites are always knocked out earlier than expected. Take for example World Cup 2002, in which France, the then defending champions and also just like Spain right now, had just won Euro 2000 two years earlier, and there was no reason why the all conquering French team at that time not to add one more star above the cockerel emblazoned on the France shirt. However, we knew that France didn't even make it out of the Group Stage, and yeah, they did not even score a single goal. In World Cup 2006, Brazil was the overwhelming favorites. Surely a team containing the legendary Ronaldo, the then world beating Ronaldinho, as well as all conquering Kaka won't go wrong and simply wipe everything on their path. But they were knocked out early, despite showing an attractive and daring attacking football in a 4-2-4 formation. Spain is now having that favorite tag. Everyone expects them to wipe anything and everything. They are said to play hypnotizing and extra-terrestrial football, and that even gravity might be defied by the mostly Barcelona players in the Spain squad.

To be fair to Spain, I personally believe that Spain will indeed play an extra-terrestrial, gravity defying football, and also wipe everything and anything on their path, but only for the three matches in the Group Stage. I dare say that they will simply swat aside Chile, Switzerland, and minnows Honduras and they might even score 20 goals and concede none, and obtain 9 points out of the available 9. At that time, even the most nationalistic Catalonian would be waving the Spanish flag. But everything will be over as soon as the last 16 kicks off. When they meet the more industrious, rigid, and unorthodox teams such as Italy, France, and Argentina respectively, they will be defeated with a skimpy scoreline, perhaps 1-0 or even in a penalty shoot-out. As usual, the tradition of Spain peaking too early in a big competition will not leave them. Not even the Euro 2008 victory could erase this. Yes, some might argue that winning the European Cup is much harder than winning the World Cup, but we have to argue again that in the last 16 and/r quarter finals, most if not all the teams left are likely to be the household European names and that's when the going gets tough, and the tough gets going. The lightning won't strike twice, if the 2009 Confederations Cup is of any indication.

The second reason picks up where I left off in the previous paragraph about how the Spanish team would falter when they meet the teams that play the anti-thesis of the kind of football that they are playing such as France, Argentina, and Italy as mentioned. Since the bulk of the Spanish squad are Barcelona players, and that their game is heavily reliant on the performances of these Barcelona men, Spain's game in the World Cup will be more or less a carbon copy of what Barcelona has been doing in the recently concluded season. Thus, it would be more than valid to draw comparisons with the Champions League, more specifically the second leg of the semi final tie of Barcelona against the eventual champions Internazionale. In this match, although many would argue that Barcelona won this match, it was shown to millions of audiences all over the world that the aforementioned slick passing, gravity defying Barcelona game can be ground to a halt by simply “Parking the bus in front of the goal”. There's no doubt that teams who are drawn against Spain, especially in the latter stages of the competition would want to take a leaf or two from Jose Mourinho's book to stop Spain, and they might just be successful. If it is a top team such as Argentina or France, they will lose by a sucker punch goal from a swift counterattack, but if it is an underdog such as the USA or Serbia, then expect them to be defeated either in the extra time or in the penalty shoot-out. Either way, Spain is going to be stopped by using Mourinho's successful tactics in the Champions League.

Lastly, with all their swashbuckling Barcelona carbon copy football, they sorely lack a credible Plan B to negotiate past the aforementioned time period starting from the last 16 when the tough gets going, and the going gets tough. This is where their Barcelona style of play will prove to be their undoing. Referring again to the previous paragraph in which they are faced with rigid and even anti-football tactics, they have to find a way out. Otherwise, they will just continuously passing around and no matter how they try, the burly opposition players will simply repel every single thing and simply toss the pint sized Spanish players away. I mean, what chance do small and short players such as Fabregas, David Villa, David Silva, Iniesta, Xavi and basically every single Spain players except for Puyol have against burly defensive players such as William Gallas, Walter Samuel, or even Branislav Ivanovic? I would say chances are it would be like seeing a group of 15 year olds being pushed away by pub bouncers to prevent them from entering. This problem is compounded by the exclusion of the relatively big sized Daniel Guiza, and I believe he is a better target-man to ram through the “parked bus” than Fernando Torres, their closest to a targetman. Without the unorthodox route one football, the kind of Inter's first goal in the final against Bayern Munich through a strong targetman Diego Milito, even if Casillas decides to lob the ball all the way to the opposition penalty area, the aforementioned burly players will just head the ball away and swat the small Spanish players away. They will not find a way through until the opposition scores a goal against them or draw them out in a siege until the lottery of the penalty shoot out (for the case of matches against underdogs).

Thus, with all of the reasons above, I don't see Spain winning this World Cup. People might still try to argue at this time using my comparison to the Spanish team with Barcelona in which they might present me with some matches in which Barcelona still win matches against teams, mostly the weaker teams in La Liga who put them on a siege by “parking the bus in front of a goal”, but no matter what, Barcelona still wins, mainly through last minute goals. But I bet anybody trying to argue along that line forgets one big thing. Even if the Spanish team is a carbon copy of Barcelona, it is just that. They have to remember that there's no Leo Messi to bail them out during those situations as “The Flea” is playing for Maradona's Argentina, the very team which might knock them out from the competition. I doubt Fernando Torres, David Villa, or Fabregas are able to do the kind of individual bailing out that Messi is doing for Barcelona, such as how Messi once dribbles past whole squads to score a brilliant goal or even his own “Hand of God” goal against Getafe to snatch victory from the jaws of draw.

Impacts of Champions League final: Inter vs Bayern Munich

2010-05-23T19:10:00.000+08:00

First up, a massive congratulatory message to Internazionale, the team that has just notched a historic treble with the encouraging 2-0 victory against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. Also, congratulations to Jose Mourinho who has just joined an elite group of managers who have won the Champions League (or European Cup) with two clubs and potentially surpassing all of them as early as next season. (which will be touched upon again later on). Soon after, the massive celebrations among everyone associated with the Nerazzuri whether in Milan and all over the world will cease and soon after the World Cup will start and soon afterward, the new European footballing season will start again, and that's when the impacts from the recently concluded massive Champions League final between Internazionale and Bayern Munich will be revealed and also take effect in the top footballing arenas in Europe. The question now is that, what are the impacts I am talking about? and how are those impacts going to continue to write memorable football history for the next season and beyond...

First and foremost, the impact will be about the champions themselves, Internazionale. It is true that they have reached the ultimate footballing pinnacle right now by clinching a marvelous treble by clinching the routine but edgy Serie A title, the Coppa Italia in an intense match against AS Roma, and the recently won Champions League trophy against a gallant but rather unfortunate Bayern Munich side. After highlighting the first impact which is directly impacting Internazionale, Interistas who read this will perhaps brand me as a party pooper who tries to spoil Inter's celebrations (I am a Roma fan). But I assure everyone that this is an objective assessment on the issue and it is a time tested reality which will no doubt affect Inter as well. Let's face it, the only way a team would go after reaching the very apex of their game is down. Firstly, there's no longer a further way up as they have won anything and everything that are up for grabs in the season, and secondly, maintaining their position would be much more difficult than attaining the trophies in the first place. Thus the saying, “It is much harder to retain than to win a trophy in the first place”. Just like how we saw the all conquering Barcelona side losing steam this season, although they would still argue that they had won “unprecedented” 6 titles in a season, I would still say that we go by the European season calendar, and that's only totally valid if the season's schedule mimics that of the Russian Premier League, for instance. In any case, there's a marked decline in Barcelona's season although they are still able to win the La Liga title, which is decided by the El Clasico matches but nevertheless they won something.

Thus, I could see a similar decline happening in Internazionale very soon. One main reason for this is of course the departure of Jose “The Special One” Mourinho himself. His departure is already a big blow to the club and Italian football in general (no matter how volatile his relationship is with the personnel in Italy), and his departure is likely to be followed with a kind of exodus of the players, again looking at how the key players of Porto such as Paulo Ferreira, Deco, and Ricardo Carvalho just to name three left the club after the 2004 Champions League triumph, either following Mourinho or to another club. The same could be happening, and the loss of Maicon, Diego Milito, Julio Cesar, and even Wesley Sneijder could be a fatal blow to Inter, and this might even end their domination in Italian football, and if this scenario pans out, we are likely to see a new Champion of the Serie A next season. But then again, it is not a foregone conclusion, and even if this has been the case throughout football history, there's no reason against Inter breaking the rather unwanted tradition. Also, not forgetting the very fact that Mourinho eft for La Liga, already tipped as the next best league in Europe despite the fact that the recent flock of superstars to La Liga are to either Barcelona or Real Madrid. This gap will widen so much further as David Villa has left Valencia, and David Silva is very likely to follow, which fatally cripple Valencia, the nearest club to challenge the big two. But still, La Liga's standard will be bolstered so much with Mourinho's arrival in the Real Madrid hotseat while without the Special One, the Italian football's standard might decrease, especially if the Inter exodus mentioned above takes place.
Secondly, while it is too much to expect Mourinho to win back to back Champions League title by winning it with Real Madrid next season. One thing for sure is that any fans who followed Chelsea during the last season of Claudio Ranieri's tenure until the successful period under Mourinho will feel a huge sense of deja vu next season. In the aforementioned Chelsea case, Jose Mourinho simply arrived and sowed the fruits of Claudio Ranieri's labor, in which the Italian had set a foundation and laid the ground and assembled the core of the team which Mourinho utilized to win their first title since 1955. The same thing is going to happen in Real Madrid. Despite racking a record breaking number of points in the League (a whopping 96 points), Manuel Pellegrini will make way for Jose Mourinho since the Chilean failed to win any trophy in his first and last season in charge of Real Madrid. However, Manuel Pellegrini has actually laid the very foundation of the team. While many would argue that the team wasn't assembled by him but by Jorge Valdano and Florentino Perez, he has been integrating those great individuals such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, and the rest of the Galacticos as a team and also integrating them into the Spanish League. While no trophy has been won by the Chilean, this is arguably the baby steps required for a team to gel first, get to know how each other plays, and build a solid team chemistry. Even this season, he has succeeded to an extent, especially in the league with the impressive points collected. Given one more season, I believe Pellegrini would start winning the trophies that everyone associated with the “Casa Blanca” craves oh so much.

But football is not a nice game, not modern football at least. Mourinho will be in charge next season, and he will be in charge of a team which has gained a considerable degree of team chemistry, and Mourinho only needs to fine tune the team a little bit, perhaps by bringing in reinforcements from his Internazionale treble winning team and then perhaps he will be the very first manager who wins the Champions League thrice with three different teams, and perhaps confirms his status as a world beater who has won every single title within the triumvirate of World football (BPL, Serie A, and La Liga). The cruel aspect of this is how Mourinho hogs all the glory with the fruits of Pellegrini's labor this season.

If everything goes according to plan, and Mourinho really brings the glory days back to Real Madrid by winning another treble, this will further enhance La Liga's status as the best league in the world by a mile. Nevermind the aforementioned fact that the league is turning into a massively enhanced Scottish League. Also, more superstars such as Fabregas will continue on to flock into La Liga, and by that, continue to flock to either Real Madrid or Barcelona, I won't be surprised that the massively star studded teams of Real Madrid and Barcelona will be locked at the top of the league with both having 110 points and the tie breaking criteria are all exhausted and thus the title might be decided by a playoff in a neutral venue (the last tie breaking criterion if all other criteria fail). This third El Clasico will eclipse even the World Cup final itself. Trust me.

Last but not least, I have been blabbering about the winners. All about Inter, all about Mourinho and his new club Real Madrid. But why haven't I mentioned anything about the runners-up, Bayern Munich, who, to be fair to them and to their manager Louis van Gaal, played extremely well but rather unfortunate to lose the game, and also due to certain lapses in defense. The reason why they are mentioned last is simply because of the very fact that only the winners are remembered. Runners up are forgotten as soon as they have received their silver medals and the moment the Champions receive their gold medals and their captain hoisting the big eared trophy up in the sky, that's it for the runners up.

I have seen articles and comments by pundits and journalists around the world claiming that this will undoubtedly boost Bayern Munich's and more importantly the German Bundesliga's profile and that this is the signs of things to come for Bayern Munich as if they are able to win it next season. But I don't see it that way. Bayern might well continue to dominate the German football, but I don't see them emulating their amazing run all the way to the final of the Champions League like this season and even winning it next season. While Ribery has reportedly penned a new fresh deal to keep him in Bayern, he might still leave next season to places such as Manchester City and Real Madrid who won't be put up by the massive compensation to break him from his contract. Also, there's no guarantee that other important players such as Robben and even Louis van Gaal would stay put as despite the fact that collectively, the runners up will be forgotten, but at individual level, there would be suitors for the key players and the manager. Bayern Munich must be ruing their loss to Inter as they have to be careful not to lose the very foundations that have brought them this run in the first place. Also, looking at the effects on Inter and Bayern as explained in this article respectively, perhaps everyone associated with Bayern Munich, and all Bundesliga fans in general would really ask the huge what if question, “What if Bayern had won the treble instead of Inter?” My answer to that is simply that it would launch Bundesliga as yet another top league in the world, and Mourinho, the loser in this alternate universe will perhaps be eyeing Bundesliga as his destination in the future to win the title, and confirm his “world beater” title.

Can Italy retain the World Cup?

2010-05-21T17:39:00.000+08:00

No one could ever forget the final of 2006, the sight of Fabio Cannavaro hoisting the World Cup trophy high in the sky. It was such an eventful competition, from Totti's last minute penalty against Australia to Zidane's emotional capitulation due to Materazzi's provocation which resulted in his headbutt which will forever be etched in football history. Four years on, La Nazionale, complete with the same manager, Marcello Lippi and most of the players from 2006 are getting ready to defend the World Cup Trophy in South Africa next month from the time of writing. A lot of questions have been asked to this Italian team. From the dubious team selection by Lippi for equally mind-boggling reasons, to the aforementioned fact that most of the players from 2006 are still in the squad and more. But sometimes, football is not so straightforward, and matches are won on the pitch instead of on the paper. Thus, the question remains, can Italy defend the World Cup trophy to win it two years in succession and in both occasions defying the odds? In my honest and humble opinion, the Italian team which will be representing the country in the Rainbow Nation will not be able to rise to the occasion this time.

The first reason for this is of course the well documented and mind-boggling squad selection by Marcello Lippi for this year's edition of the World Cup. What makes his squad selection ever more baffling is the fact that the reasons for his inclusion and exclusion of certain players are strongly influenced by the rather solidly pragmatic approach as well as based on his personal views and like-and-dislike towards certain players. His inclusion of most of the old guards from the 2006 winning team (which will be touched upon in greater detail later) and the exclusion of two of Italy's best performers in the recently concluded season who are none other than Fabrizio Miccoli and Antonio Cassano perfectly explain how he chooses his squad. The focus here will be the exclusion of the players. It has been well documented that both players will not have a slightest of chances to don the famous Azzuri shirt as long as Lippi is in charge of the squad. In other words, the only way for those players to feature for their country again is for this World Cup to be so disastrous that the wily old manager resigns or sacked.

They have the right to think that the day beckons as without both of these explosive players, Italy's attack is rather blunt and even if they are able to negotiate the usually easy Group Stage, when the top teams come to face Italy, that's when the flaws will be exposed. Without solid attackers like those two to breach the stubborn and world class defence, and not forgetting that without the two guys who are capable of converting rare half-chances that come their way into goals without second invitations, it is hard to see how the team will negotiate past top teams such as Brazil, Spain, Argentina, and Germany. Teams who do not take their chances, even assuming that Italy can create a lot of chances, will be severely punished. Just look at Arsenal, nice passing, nice build up, eye catching assists, but nobody to finish them, they still win nothing. Same goes for Italy. Since Lippi is so stubborn with his personal policies to choose his players, it is hard to see Italy progressing far into the competition, let alone winning it again.

The second reason why Italy would not be able to retain the famous trophy is because of the other half of Lippi's selection policy in which he favors the old guards of 2006 such as Fabio Cannavaro, Mauro Camoranesi, Zambrotta, and Gattuso instead of calling the young bloods who have performed so admirably for their respective clubs in the recently concluded club season. Yes, those players are World Class players, but nobody could expect those same players to perform at the same top level throughout their careers. There must be a point of time when they are no longer capable of producing the goods at the very top level, and it can be argued that they have reached that point long ago. With the opposing teams constantly experimenting and introducing new, young, and fresh players into the squad and giving birth to extreme innovations within their games, Italy's progress can be safely considered as stagnant and I would liken them to a monopoly company who refuses to innovate only to see their monopoly position being usurped by other companies who constantly adopt new innovations for themselves. While the inclusion of the old guards of 2006, at a glance, seems to be the embodiment of Team Chemistry attainment and consistency in selection, this is the wrong kind of those aspects of the game, especially the latter. When they face youthful squad brimming with raw pace and hunger, the old and clumsy Italians will totally be caught off guard and that's when they are going to be knocked out. Another disappointment akin to the one in Euro 2008 awaits?

Another reason why Italy is incapable of retaining the World Cup is due to history. Since the great Pele infused Brazilian team did in 1958 and 1962, no other teams have managed to retain the famous trophy. While this reason might not be a realistic one and merely more of a superstitious reason, sometimes history plays a bigger role than anyone could envisage in the game. As a comparison, perhaps one should look at how no team has ever retained the UEFA Champions League since it is no longer known as European Cup and even until the time of writing, and at least until May 2011, no team has mamaged to retain the trophy and same goes to the World Cup trophy. Thus, if history has its way, Italy will not retain the cup.

But we have to remember one golden rule in football, “Anything can happen in football”. I would be contradicting myself to suggest that since Italy seems to be in such a disadvantaged and weak position that they will not win the world cup. Let me remind everyone again that my favorite to win the World Cup is Argentina, and we know how we would be ridiculed for placing just one Euro bet on Argentina winning the World Cup. The same goes for Italy of course, and still using the argument from my position for favoring Argentina, history has also proven that usually the team that is least expected to win the World Cup go far in the tournament instead of the massive favorites, and Italy is certainly not a favorite. Although I have to add that Italy is not the only team with the underdog tag and if the theory comes to light in the competition, Italy will have to fight it out with other least favored teams such as France and Argentina just to name two to get their hands on the grandest prize of them all in football, the World Cup.

In conclusion, we have taken a look at how Marcello Lippi's dubious team selections whether the exclusion of game changing and in-form players such as Miccoli and Cassano as well as his equally dubious faith on the 2006 cup winning players minus Fabio Grosso, whose exclusion has ignited debates all over the world and of course in Italy and the fact that history is against them suggests that Italy will not be able to retain the World Cup and it is time for yet another team to win this one. Although we have to remember that nothing in football is certain, but obvious weakness in a squad and mind-boggling antics such as Lippi's will prove to be a team's downfall, totally defying the famous saying, “anything can happen in football”

Do France deserve their World Cup 2010 spot?

2010-05-20T13:33:00.001+08:00

The question about whether or not France deserve to be taking part in the 2010 edition of the World Cup in South Africa has not been asked for such a long time, at least among the non-Irish in this world. However, with the World Cup in less than a month away from the time of writing, and also the fact that personally I have yet to present my case and perspective on this issue, I feel that this is the appropriate time to answer those big questions regarding the World Cup prior to the much anticipated opening match between the hosts South Africa and Mexico. Thus, despite seemingly to be the other way round, I dare say that France actually fully deserve their spot in the competition despite the widespread condemnation due to the nature of how their spot was clinched at the expense of the gallant Republic of Ireland and the reasons why will be covered in the following paragraphs.

The first reason why France deserve their spot in the upcoming World Cup is simply because of the time honored rule from FIFA regarding the referee's decisions in a football match. To be precise, it is about the very rule that no matter what, the referee's decisions in a match are final. There have been many well documented and hotly debated huge football incidents regarding referee's decisions in the past which are still disputed and begrudged even until this very day. I will just take arguably two of the most prominent of such incidents which are Geoff Hurst's infamous “phantom goal” which resulted in England winning their first and so far only World Cup every in 1996 on home soil at the expense of Germany and of course the “Hand of God” goal by Diego Maradona which arguably the knockout blow to England in the 1986's World Cup and of course a huge catalyst of Argentina winning that year's edition of the World Cup.

Therefore, just by taking a look at those two incidents, it could be seen that it is futile to debate all those incidents even in the decades after those incidents actually occurred. We have seen thousands of complaints from the German and English players who were undermined in the respective incidents, we have seen the replays of those incidents so many times that the replay is totally ingrained in our memories such that we are able to play out the exact video right in our minds. But one thing remains. The respective goals have stood until today. Referee's decisions are final. Period. So, it's pretty much the same for the incident when Thierry Henry swatted the ball for William Gallas to score which in turn swatting his country all the way to South Africa while swatting Ireland out of commission. No matter how the Irish want to debate this issue until we have introduced football to the aliens in the space and when we are able to host Mars United to play a friendly game, the decision will never be overturned and yes, this argument comes to a full circle, the referee's decision is final. Even if Thierry Henry had carried the ball with his hands, rugby style, all the way to beyond Shay Given's goal-line, and IF the referee allowed it, that's a goal, and nothing can ever change that, not even millions of Shillelagh blows on the referee's or Henry's head will be able to change anything, let alone the result of the match.

The second reason why France deserves to be in South Africa next month is pertaining to how FIFA made a very controversial rule change for the play-off stage of the UEFA World Cup qualifying campaign. The rule change was that FIFA suddenly decided to seed the teams who were in the playoffs according to their FIFA ranking. The reason for the controversy surrounding this decision is mainly due to the rather surprising conclusion in the various groups of the qualification campaign in which the football powerhouses such as France, Portugal, and even Russia didn't manage to top their groups and thus had to negotiate a potentially tricky random fixtures in the playoffs. But the rule change guaranteed that these powerhouses won't be facing one another. This sent the football conspiracy theorists to work overtime and concluded that this was all a conspiracy by FIFA to get as many top teams as possible in the World Cup while of course culling the “undesirable” teams as far as sponsorship and attendance issues are concerned. Had there been no rule change at all, we would have seen two top teams against each other, for example France vs Portugal and thus one of those teams would have to miss this year's World Cup. In the end, Portugal faced Bosnia-Herzegovina while France faced Republic of Ireland for the very clash which ignited debates such as what is being discussed in this article. In the end, both France and Portugal qualified. The only instance of the smaller teams defying the controversial rule change is only Slovenia as they managed to beat Guus Hiddink's fancied Russian team.

Well, if we look at this rule change objectively, it is indeed makes a whole world of sense for FIFA to try their best (according to the conspiracy theories at least) to get France and Portugal among other top teams to be in the World Cup for the aforementioned sponsorship and attendance issues. Picture this, it would be a disaster for sponsors such as NIKE and Adidas just to name two if players under contracts with them such as Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo are to miss the competition. It would be an utter disaster as far as profits are concerned. Besides sponsorship issues, we have to look at the attendance and gate receipt issues. How can one expect the South African populace and tourists from all over the world to pay a huge sum of money to go to the various South African cities where the matches are held to look at teams which an average fan would struggle to name just three squad members? (with all due respects to the teams). Even if one points out at Bosnian and Irish stars such as Hasan Salihamidzic, Vedad Ibisevic, Robbie Keane, and Shay Given, people would certainly prefer to see players such as Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Hugo Lloris, and Simao. I mean, the latter four players would put more bums on the seats of the South African stadiums. Again, it would be an utter disaster if the first World Cup on African soil is to fail due to poor attendance? The sight of the empty stadiums will be such a shameful sight for FIFA's top brass and also for South Africans and even for the world as a whole for that matter! Thus, it doesn't matter if the conspiracy theories are true or not, the fact that France is a team filled with the who's who in football and also perhaps the very fact that France has a better prospect in the competition in providing stern challenges that even Ireland (sorry Ireland fans) in the competition and thus, let's just be objective and harden our hearts, but yes, France deserves to be in the competition when we look at the economic reasons, (sponsorship and attendance) as well as in terms of the competition's pedigree as a whole. (the fact that France can potentially go further than Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina for instance and thus provide quality matches instead of thrashings).

The third and last reason for the day is also a bitter pill to swallow for the Irish, but let's all face it with our objective glasses, as what I would expect for anyone reading the previous paragraph. It is true that the one particular goal which resulted from the infamous handball was the sucker punch which destroyed all hopes of the Irish to go to the World Cup. But why? It's of course due to the fact that the Irish had first lost 1-0 in Dublin on the first leg of the tie and had a mountain to climb for the second leg in Paris. Robbie Keane managed to score one goal to bring the aggregate to 1-1 and to extra time. That's when the Hand of Henry assist ruined everything. But would it have been such a decisive incident had Ireland were 4-0 up for instance in that match, or if that seems too much, a 3-0 advantage from the first leg in Dublin? The extra time would not have happened and it is likely that the incident would not have happened. Of course it would not be right on my part to keep asking the what if questions, which I believe have been asked countless of times before, even until today. But that's what it is. Had Ireland managed to take their chances well, especially if they had managed to make full use of their home advantage in the first leg, not even two of such goals would prove to be so detrimental. But then again, we have to realize that the playoffs are never easy, not even after the aforementioned FIFA rule change and thus sometimes it takes just one goal, one mishap, one wrong referee decision to turn things around, and that's what happened, just like the two incidents in 1966 and 1986 mentioned above. Thus, based on the results alone over two legs. France deserves to go through as they managed to “hold off” Ireland in the two legs, especially in the 2nd leg after Robbie Keane's early goal in the match to stay in contention and won it, even if the assist to the winning goal wasn't a legitimate one.

Despite all of the reasons mentioned above regarding how France deserve their spot, it is pertinent that we should not immediately conclude that France totally, fully deserve their spot in the competition. It is because, no matter what, what Henry had done in the match was such a disgraceful act. It was obviously a blatant act not only to keep the ball from going out of the playing field for a goal kick, but also to launch the ball right on William Gallas' path, who is one of the French players in the Irish penalty box. Even though this is a football era in which the stakes are so high that the end justifies the means more often than not, and also in Henry's personal perspective that if France doesn't qualify, he might have played his last World Cup match in 2006 final, which didn't end that well for the French. But still, Thierry Henry is a world class superstar playing in world class matches beamed to a global audience, and there are kids who adore him as an idol and treat him as their role model. If that's the kind of example that he is setting on the pitch, it is saddening to see that the kids would think that it is okay to cheat their way to victory as long as they can win matches for their team, which is a wrong idea which might translate to other fields if they do not play football such as in their school examinations and even in the business world that they might end up as the next Nick Leeson and other irresponsible CEOs which might not only ruin a company but also ruin the whole world's economy as evident in the recent global financial crisis. But then again, football is not a philanthropic work, at least not today, and thus attaining goals, whether collective ones (bringing one's country to the World Cup) or individual ones (Henry's wish to play in one more World Cup for example) are at the top of the agenda, and I am afraid, in modern football at least, morality and even caring for the kids' affected moral values is nowhere near the top or even on the priority list itself...

In conclusion, no matter how many liters of Irish tears and also desperate attempts by the Irish to overturn the result, such as when they go as far as appealing to FIFA to include them as the competition's 33rd team, we have to see from the combination of the reasons stated above from how the referee's decision is final, how FIFA, the sponsors, and even the footballing world as a whole would benefit from France's inclusion in the World Cup, and also not forgetting the fact that the Irish failed to stamp their mark in the two matches to kill the tie off so that they are guaranteed a spot without heart stopping moments such as Henry's handball to ruin everything contribute to the fact that France deserve to be in the World Cup to entertain all of us. Although again the Irish and other detractors might wish for France to do another 2002 and exit the World Cup unceremoniously, I would beg to differ. I even dare say that since I have tipped Argentina (another team expected to go out early) to win this World Cup, and France, like Argentina is a team who have struggled a lot in the qualification campaign, and we know that teams that struggle in the qualification campaign tend to go far. Of course I am not that superstitious as to say that this is the only factor, but there are other factors which is totally out of the discussion in this particular occasion. In a nutshell, I am not ruling out the final consisting of a match between France and Argentina in this edition's World Cup! Therefore, I might even write another article in two months' time about whether France deserves to be in the final or even deserve to win the cup in the event that they do!

Is it fair to label Maradona crazy?

2010-05-18T15:51:00.000+08:00

After witnessing scintillating ends to the top European leagues such as the Barclays Premier League, Spanish La Liga, and Italian Serie A, the attention is now diverted to the southern hemisphere in anticipation to the long awaited start to the 2010 edition of the FIFA World Cup. 32 teams will be, technically at least, be competing fiercely for the biggest prize of them all, the grandaddy of the footballing universe. It is no secret that I personally am tipping Diego Maradona's Argentina to win this World Cup, although one could see a plethora of journalists and pundits alike dismissing Argentina's chances to win the World Cup. However, it is not the time to debate about Argentina's chances per se, this is about their much derided manager Maradona, who has infamously utilized no less than 100 different players in their shaky and precarious qualification campaign and also infamously snubbing stars such as Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Milito in favor of players such as Martin Palermo and Ariel Ortega. The question to be asked here is that, is it really fair and correct to label Maradona as crazy and incompetent, echoing the aforementioned journalists and pundits? Or is Maradona's bizarre tactics and selections so far is a fruit of his genius footballing brain?

It is actually not really correct to label Maradona as crazy simply because of Argentina's precarious qualification campaign which really gave them huge scare of not qualifying as well as the aforementioned “questionable” team selections. Firstly, Diego Maradona is perhaps simply trying to bring out unknown variables into the equation. We have to realize that if Maradona is to follow the so called mainstream and “correct” way of doing things by selecting only top European based players who are playing in the top clubs and the top leagues of this world, Argentina will become some sort of predictable unit, at least on individual level. This is simply because of the very fact that all of us, let alone the complicated and advanced network of scouts around the world know players such as Carlos Tevez, Leo Messi, and Diego Milito inside out largely thanks to the global coverage of the top European leagues in which those players are plying their trades in. If Argentina is to become such a predictable unit, the opposing defending players, who are themselves top players playing against the aforementioned Argentine players week in week out will not have any problems identifying one best way to stop them as what they have been doing at club level.

By choosing players from the Argentine League, it is from a division which has less coverage, and definitely has less information available for the oppositions in comparison to the top European leagues. They would be needing a totally different set of strategies to stop those players and also not mentioning how those players are not used to playing these players on a regular basis. Even if they have played against each other before, it is likely to be a one off match such as during the now defunct Intercontinental Cup or the Club World Cup. Even for players who have starred in Europe before such as Riquelme, Juan Veron, and Ariel Ortega, they have been out of the European game for so long and the players who used to rub shoulders with them have either retired from the international scene or retired altogether. Thus, we might want to start thinking how the “craziness” of Maradona is in fact a shrewd and smart thinking. And yes, we haven't start talking about how choosing players from the Argentine league will only do the domestic league a world of good!

Secondly, by choosing a whopping 100 different players in the qualification campaign, Maradona keeps everyone in the entire universe to keep guessing. Too many variables are involved, and there's no definite set up in Maradona's plans. Even if he chooses players from the Argentine league, people will start to study the way they play, the tempo that suits them, and a whole lot of factors needed to beat the team. But that's only for a team constantly playing together for every single match throughout the qualification campaign. But 100 different players? Those scouts or even the managers themselves might attend the Argentina matches, but each match brings a totally different dimension, and there's no set pattern. The variable changes for every single match. There's no chance at all to really study the Argentine team thoroughly as 100 players would mean that it is not one team, but around 10 different starting line ups! There's no way to study 10 different teams, and even if they succeed in doing that, they still have to guess which 23 players out of those will be chosen to go to South Africa (which is already done at the time of writing) and the oppositions would not have been successfully studied those 23 players thoroughly as those 23 might not be a team in the qualifications. Maybe each player comes from each different “team” sent by Maradona to each match? Totally no room at all to be studied and spied. Masterpiece from Maradona, although I am appalled at how those top class pundits and journalists fail to see this...

People will now point at the extreme scare of Maradona's qualification campaign which nearly knocked any hopes of Argentina qualifying, which they point out with their so called expert analysis that it would be a disaster if that had happened. That's true, but in the end Maradona kept to his words and qualified. At least Argentina secured their qualifications in a legitimate way. Even the fact that France secured their qualification through Thierry Henry's blatant, low class, and shameful cheating antic, they are in the World Cup, no matter how the Irish want to cry until the cow comes home. So who's to say that Maradona's Argentina who qualified legitimately do not deserve a plane to South Africa? Also, people may call me crazy, but I would love to think that besides trying to confuse oppositions as mentioned, he also used the qualification campaign as a form of mind games, so that he and his team are underestimated. He allows people all over the world to ridicule him as a madman, idiotic coach, and other appalling insults as a small sacrifice so that everyone will write them off and underestimate them, only to see them surge all the way to the World Cup Glory, and to add Maradona to a list of legends who has won the World Cup both as a player and as a manager. It is such a noble sacrifice for his country. Besides, in superstitious terms, we have seen too many times in too many World Cups that the teams who surge through all the way through the qualification campaigns (Spain and England as usual, be warned) always end up relatively early. As for Spain and England, maybe last 16 or the Quarter Finals are what they could dream of.

However, despite how Maradona's tactics might have been used to enhance Argentina's chances to win the World Cup, it is nevertheless pertinent to point out that Maradona's tactics were too risky for such a high stakes campaign. I mean, we can't dismiss those people who point out how Maradona had carried Argentina down so much that they were on the verge of failing to qualify to the World Cup barring Martin Palermo's last minute goal against Peru as indeed it was too precarious to be comfortable. I mean, if I am a manager, or a citizen of a country, I would rather be like Spain and England, qualify so comfortably through the qualification campaign and being knocked out early rather than not qualifying at all. It was indeed a high risk move by Maradona. But nevertheless, he has made it, Argentina is now ready to add one more star onto their shirts, and Maradona is ready to hug the famous Jules Rimet trophy one more time as a manager now.

Thus, it is utterly invalid to dismiss Maradona's tactics and team selections as simply idiotic moves as what have been mentioned above, Maradona might just be that one genius manager who thinks outside of the box and beats any other managers in the competition who religiously adhere to the so called “right way” or mainstream way of doing things. Remember, sometimes it is the unorthodox who triumph over the religiously orthodox exponents in a martial arts for example. Also, we have to remember that despite all of his private problems in the past, Maradona is still someone who is rational, and above all, someone who has a genius footballing brain. While it is again true that great players do not make great managers, we have to say that Maradona is one of them who are good in both worlds and the fact that he's still in charge until now speaks volume of how the AFA trust him for the job. They are rational people as well, and thus let's just sit back, and watch how Maradona's team surge through the competition all the way just like how the man himself waltzed through England's defence in 1986 on his way to scoring the goal of the century!